Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen designed the Gateway Arch monument, completed in St. Louis in 1965 (it opened to the public in 1967). The world's largest arch, the iconic, 632-foot tall structure was built as a monument to westward expansion in the United States. Here, he's shown alongside models of the arch. Credit: Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives; © St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Tom Givone's current weekend abode, nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, is—so far—his capstone project, a synthesis of personal taste, material experimentation, and historically sensitive restoration: a living laboratory for how to bring the vernacular past into the present.

Overhead cabinets now can be easily swung open for ease of access. The kitchens are priced at IKEA’s usual retails. A 10 by 10 foot kitchen fitted with Sektion cabinets will range from around $1,300 to $2,200, excluding appliances.

The Cayenne’s primary design lines now run outward, rather than toward the middle. The result is a vehicle with a more robust road presence. Of course, most of the Cayenne's performance evolutions are under the hood. Upgraded and optimized, the new Cayenne engine was developed to spare drivers' wallets at the pump.

Black and white kitchen tiles add visual interest to this stunning modern kitchen by IKEA.

Cubicco, a pre-engineered housing company based in Miami and the Netherlands, creates homes that are designed to meet winds of up to 180 miles per hour, per the hurricane zone code of Miami Dade County.

A tiny outbuilding offers a cozy living space inside a simple shell.

As the facade of a Bates Masi-designed home in Water Mill, New York, rises from eight to 14 feet high, the mahogany planks subtly widen. “It was quite a demand to make of the contractor,” architect Paul Masi says. “But the design was so much about traveling through the site and weaving [the house] together with the deck.”

Fed up with flashy, environmentally insensitive beach homes, architect Gerald Parsonson and his wife, Kate, designed a humble hideaway nestled behind sand dunes along the New Zealand coastline. Crafted in the image of a modest Kiwi bach, their 1,670-square-foot retreat consists of a group of small buildings clad in black-stained pine weatherboards and fiber-cement sheets.

The family spends summers and school vacations at the bach. New Zealand's relatively mild winters mean they use the house year-round.

Tanya Wexler and Amy Zimmerman linger in the breezeway designed to draw eyes, and footsteps, from the driveway through the house to the gently sloping backyard and swimming pool beyond.

Kayak in hand, Tom and Will make a break for the beach.

A view across the display island to a breezeway betweent the house and the garage that Pacek and Roynon created as part of their home addition. They use the space for entertaining and food service when the weather cooperates.

A Lakeside Prefab in New Jersey A New Zealand expat and her son use their prefabricated lakeside New Jersey retreat as an outdoorsy counterpoint to city life. Photo by: Mark Mahaney Curious on what was popular last week? Click here!

IKEA chairs join a table from CB2; a Kawneer triple-sliding door opens to the family’s new ipe deck.

The Irwin pool house designed by Landis Gores in 1957 boasts a central room with high ceilings and an unobstructed view of the landscape. In 2005, the Town of New Canaan purchased the property and added exhibition spaces, as well as rooms for lectures and events. The small pavilion also houses an oversized, monumental brick fireplace design that divides the main space from the kitchen area.

A model of the Aero House, by architect Tadashi Murai.

The exterior mixes pale gray wood on the vertical volume, and fiber cement and black brick on the horiztonal volume. The three trees in the front yard were maintained during the renovation process.

Gensler's Constellation of Fins speaks to the surfing condition on several planes: the physical aspect of how waves address the bathymetry of the Bay, a snapshot of wave-riding cultural hotspots, and the navigational equipment that is defined by them.

Building on her sensual flare for lighting design, Campbell’s vision for Das Haus’s gentle light will include string lighting in collaboration with Kvadrat, who will tailor print textile envelopes for the lamps. “There will be giant chains of light,” beams Campbell.

Using natural materials is one way of bringing nature indoors. Oiled white ash floors and ceilings, along with Italian poplar and Lawson cypress joinery, are found throughout architect Andrew Simpson’s 538-square-foot home outside Wellington, New Zealand.

In the kitchen, the cabinetry is walnut veneer with a weathered finish applied by cabinetmaker David Rogers. “The process involved sanding and rubbing in stain as well as adding a clear finish,” project architect Eero Puurunen says.

Model of the center's floorplan.

Calling all space nerds: A+R's Pop-up shop will include London- and Hong Kong–based Papafoxtrot's spacecraft models.

Induction cooktops, growing steadily in popularity due to their energy efficiency and speed, are part of the offering as well as as a selection of exhaust hoods.

A 17-foot-tall freestanding play structure that designer Sharon Davis designed for her family in upstate New York can only be entered by climbing taut netting and entering through a trap door. Descending requires sliding down two structural-columns-turned-fire-poles.

One of the large-scale studies for the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Meier's most ambitious project, the Getty Center took 15 years to complete. Photo courtesy of Steven Sze, Richard Meier & Partners.

Much of the cooking and cleaning takes place at the rear counter, which is outfitted with an Evoke faucet by Kohler.

About 400 handmade models are on display at the museum. Additional models are stored at the Richard Meier & Partners offices in Manhattan. Photo courtesy of Steven Sze, Richard Meier & Partners.

Another view of the collection. Photo courtesy of Steven Sze, Richard Meier & Partners.

The exhibition space and archive occupies 15,000 square feet. Photo courtesy of Steven Sze, Richard Meier & Partners.

Another Getty Center model. Photo courtesy of Steven Sze, Richard Meier & Partners.

The museum is housed at Mana Contemporary, a converted industrial space in Jersey City, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Steven Sze, Richard Meier & Partners.

A closer view of one of the larger Getty Center models. Photo courtesy of Steven Sze, Richard Meier & Partners.