Essence Red Wine Glass The Essence family of glassware was designed by Zurich-based designer Alfredo Häberli for Iittala. With personal experience in the restaurant industry guiding the designer’s decisions, a perfect blend of form and function emerged. Each glass is formed to suit the scientific needs of the liquid it contains, but with the utmost attention to aesthetics. Notes the designer, “The idea for the glass range was to create a balance between tradition and modernity, between celebration and daily use, a balance with one and different uses.”

New Depths Inspired by a local winery, George Kyprianou wanted a glass top on his subterranean wine cellar. The interior is lit, casting soft light into the living space at night and revealing the 132-year-old stone foundation. The three-quarter-inch glass lid sits flush with the floorboards; it opens with an ingenious device that Kyprianou devised using a 12-volt air compressor and a remote-controlled switch. When you push the button, the glass lifts just enough to be removed by hand.

Waechter Architecture reimagined a traditional gabled home in southeast Portland without significantly altering the original building. A simple coat of red paint abstracts the century-old structure, creating a residential work of art.

The wall beneath the stairs holds hidden storage, including an Enomatic wine dispenser and Sub-Zero refrigerated drawers.

Designed by Norm Architects for Menu, the Wine Breather Deluxe is a glass, steel and plastic multitasker. Affix the Wine Breather securely to the neck of a standard-sized wine bottle, and it will breathe new life into your wine, adding ten-times the oxygen.

The home’s previous owner’s father was one of the first wine importers to Denmark, and the cellar still contains some of his bottles, first placed there 40 years ago and now dusty, with obscured labels and decaying corks. The couple opens one once in a while—"they’re usually very bad, but sometimes very good," says Østergaard.

The perfectly formed, mouth-blown shape of Citterio and Nguyen's Decanter for Iittala was thoughtfully designed to enhance the qualities of its contents. The neck opens slightly, allowing wine to breathe and releasing the flavors and bouquet that have been locked inside it. The clean, clear design lets in light to ignite the brilliant color of wine. Shown with Iittala’s Essence Glassware, designed by Alfredo Häberli.

Since surrounding neighbors can overlook the one-story property, Thomson created a roof detail that is environmentally friendly and attractive: “the bio-diverse [green] roof is planted with indigenous species of flowers and grasses,” he says.

GOVINO SHATTERPROOF WINE GLASSES It's a crushing feeling to watch your prized crystal hit the ground and shatter. Save your tears with shatter-proof wine glasses. They even have finger indents for better grip!

Tritan Burgundy Wine Glass A classic design made with titanium and zirconium rather than lead making it dishwasher safe and break-resistant, the Tritan Burgundy wine glass from Schott Zwiesel is not only beautiful but practical for everyday use and large gatherings.

Photo by: Flickr/Reynir Hauksson

Van Beek’s extra space is home to her office. She works on a Tense table by Piergiorgio and Michele Cazzaniga and Flow chairs by Jean Marie Massaud, both for MDF Italia.

He worked around existing oak and eucalyptus trees for the new building, and retained the vernacular of an original barn, at right, where Frankel hosts concerts. Check out MVRDV's Balancing Barn.

Located in Aarhus, Denmark, Villa R is a minimalist, serene structure clad in zinc panels. "The objective was to create a house that brings the forest inside through large glass panels—and create an ever-changing seasonal backdrop for the interior living spaces," stated the architecture firm, C.F. Møller, of the 3,200-square-foot abode.

The steel canopy protects the residents from Seattle’s notoriously rainy weather as they walk from the entry gate to the front door.

The Parisian flat that American-born architect Michael Herrman shares with his wife, Cécile, and their 2-year-old daughter, Rose, had been nearly untouched since the 1790s, when it was built. “But I wanted to try and reveal some of its age in a fresh new context,” Herrman said.

By inserting a tunnel made from 36 reclaimed commercial doors and tearing down a handful of walls, LOT-EK and contractor Andreas Scholtz brought light into the formerly unused dark hallway in Maurice Russell (right) and Jorge Fontanez’s apartment. The glossy Safety Red paint by Benjamin Moore catches the light by day but “becomes a richer, darker, very relaxing red at night,” Fontanez says.

The bathroom features Chromtech tile, a Toto toilet, Kohler vanity, and powder-coated steel countertop.

"American kitchens tend to be a collage of unrelated bits—counter, lighting, cabinets, backsplash tiles—that only occasionally work together,

The red acrylic hallway.

The second-floor office is housed inside a rounded rectangle of concrete that the architect inserted on top of the old farmhouse.

The new volume houses the dining area, which includes stairs to the bedrooms. The table is from Blake Avenue and the walnut chairs are from Room & Board. “You don’t want bright colors to take away from that relationship between the interior and the exterior,” Walker says.

The subway tile-lined bathroom was kept as simple as possible, with Hansgrohe fixtures and cabinets made of vertical-grain Douglas fir above a top-mounted Duravit sink. Since installing a window was unfeasible given the bathroom's proximity to other properties, Storey added a skylight over the shower.

The bedroom is enclosed with a glass wall. A blackout curtain can be drawn closed for privacy. An IKEA cabinet and white lacquered shelves help to provide plenty of closet space.

One major directive was to “honor the tree,” referring to a particular 85-year-old cottonwood on the property. Photo by: Kirk Gittings

"Like the old farmhouses and barns of the Champlain Valley, the Foote Farm House has a clearly ordered wood frame on a sturdy foundation, an exterior skin made of local materials, an economy of form with tried-and-true proportions, a central fire place, and a common-sense relationship to the sun and the weather." - Architect John McLeod

Moskow Linn Architects of Boston tackled this ground-up renovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a client who wanted to maximize efficiency. Photo by Eric Roth.

"Architecture exists through states of contrast; the building as a bridge between a wooded forest and a field, a strong roof line against a backdrop of trees or mountains. In these states of contrast we truly start to see where we live." -Architect Steve Kredell

But onto the real question: The pavilion is a definite delight to the eyes, but does it make the wine more tasty? “Absolutely!” Warner and McCabe assert. “Each pavilion is elegantly unobtrusive and offers a rustic yet refined experience evocative of picnicking with a bottle of wine under an oak tree. In this way, the pavilions serve to bring the visitor a greater depth of understanding and appreciation for the place where Quintessa is made and the process that creates its uniquely sophisticated character.”

Carefully selected materials make the building appear as if it grew from the land. Environmentally sensitive finishes echo the existing winery, which the firm designed in 2002.

The walls are covered in Graniplast, a tinted acrylic finish. Nathan Pereira Arquitectos y Diseño advised on the facade, floors, and finishes. All the bedrooms are off one hallway; the three children’s rooms were designed by Vanessa Clark.

The Red House, 2002.

A double-height space encompasses the kitchen, dining and living area, and features 36-feet-wide glass doors that pocket into southern and northern walls.

The new Drink Buddy wine topper and wine glass identifiers from Umbra.

“Peter and I’ve got shockingly similar and far-reaching design inspirations. Our conversations would move easily from brutalism to driftwood to kachinas and then flow right back to something applicable to architecture. I can’t tell you how many times I will do that with a less-design-literate client and just get a blank stare!” —Architect Craig Steely