Architect Dan Brunn's #9 Dream House captures the contemporary style of the designers Dwell selected for Decorist.

“There is a lot of glass so you can enjoy the view and the outdoor lifestyle even inside,” Henrik explains. “You live in the middle of the weather somehow. It’s a really harsh environment, as you have these southwesterly winds blowing through the house. But it is really beautiful as well.”

The family are avid fans of watersports of all stripes: “Windsurfing and the stand-up paddling board—the beach is right outside,” says Henrik. “It’s a fun house.”

Oskar and Karl, 12 and 9, share breakfast at their family’s summer getaway in Sweden. The table is from ILVA, and the CH36 chairs by Hans Wegner are from Carl Hansen & Søn.

Antarctica - Setting foot on the 7th continent Private tour groups have been visiting Antarctica since 1969. Today there are lots of choices among operators sending ships, planes, and helicopters to Antarctica between November and March (the summer season). Many trips start in Southern Argentina, and ship-bound journeys include on-board lectures and access to experts on the ecology of the Antarctic during the cruise. Passengers can kayak around icebergs, or spend a day watching penguins, seals, and whales off the coast. Photo by: Christopher.Michel

North America - Biking the wine valleys of Northern California Almost half of the wineries in the United States are located in California, and many of those are in the valleys north of San Francisco. Wine tasting and winery tours are a drunkenly entertaining way to learn how grapes become wine, but the process involves more than crushing and fermenting grapes. One needs to see the agriculture that goes into America’s wine making, and touch the grapes on the vine, to really appreciate the drink. Work off that hangover by cycling along the winding roads of Napa and Sonoma. Photo by: needoptic

South America - Volunteering in the Peruvian Amazon The Peruvian Amazon is only home to 5% of Peru’s human population, but about 5,500 plant species and 760 animal species unique to Peru live here. Animal rehabilitation centers protect sections of this diverse ecosystem, and trained conservationists help create a safe place for wounded and sick animals. The goal of these reserves is to release healthy animals back into the jungle and teach visitors about the importance of the Amazon. Many encourage volunteers to become involved in the care and preservation of the Peruvian Amazon, giving them a firsthand understanding of the region's ecological diversity. Photo by: cavallotkd

The modern pool allows architects to bring the aesthetics of modern design and water together in harmony. These examples from around the world are designed to fit their environments while maintaining their unique qualities and cohesiveness. The results are truly inspiring. To view our dream pools, click here.

Europe - Touring the cultural centers of Central and Eastern Europe Paris and Rome are beautiful, but there's more to Europe than taking the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower and eating gelato at the Colosseum. Eastern Europe is home to castles, cathedrals, world-famous symphonies, modern art museums, and great beer, wine, and pastries. The cities of Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, and Budapest are important cultural centers with citywide art and architecture dating back to the Renaissance. Charles Bridge in Prague has been standing since the 12th century, and Vienna’s city center is home to both Habsburg architecture and modern design. Photo by: Dimitry B

Africa - Summitting and safariing in Tanzania At 19,341 feet, Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa. It takes a minimum of six to eight days to reach the summit, during which climbers contend with not only changes in altitude, but changes in climate as well (snowstorms occur close to Kilimanjaro's peak). But reaching the top via one of six routes is a serious achievement, and offers the chance to see both Tanzania and Kenya from above. Serengeti National Park is a five-hour drive, or short flight, from Kilimanjaro airport and is home to some of Tanzania’s biggest animals, including lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, and rhinos. The park has safari lodges and campsites, and tour operators organize excursions throughout the park. Photo by: Tambako the Jaguar

Asia - Exploring nature and culture in China The Chengdu region of China is home to the world's largest population of Giant Pandas. Panda reserves in and around Chengdu focus on protecting the bear’s natural habitat and researching their behavior (best job ever?). Certain reserves allow volunteers to interact with and care for these endangered species. Elsewhere in China, Beijing has some of the country's most important cultural landmarks. Principal among them is the Forbidden City, built during the Ming Dynasty and now home to the Palace Museum. Xi’an, located between Beijing and Chengdu, has the Terra Cotta Warriors archaeological site. This necropolis was originally built for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, and is thought to have contained over 4,000 life-size soldiers and other figures sculpted out of terracotta. Photo: Chi King

Australia - Transitioning from Outback to tropics by train Riding the Ghan makes for a three-day transcontinental train journey over the plains, deserts, and mountains of central Australia. The route starts either near the beaches of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, or north in Darwin. In between, travelers get a sense of the continent's changing environment as they trundle to Alice Springs, from which a six-hour drive will bring them to Uluru (Ayers Rock). Near the top of the Northern Territory, travelers can stop at Katherine and spend a day at nearby Nitmiluk National Park, a tropical counterpoint to the arid Outback. Photo by: huskyte77

Eichler: Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream is available from amazon.com.

California Dreams from 2008 pays homage to our home state, and kicks off with an amazing cover story on twin homes in La Jolla by architect Sebastian Mariscal. Photo by: Bryce Duffy

Castle's "Like a Dream" sculpture doubles as a seat.

The living room features a sofa by Sits and a 1950 Hunting Chair by Børge Mogensen.

In the kitchen, the couple prepare a meal. The Multiform island is topped in Corian; the oven and hood is from Wolf.

The Kingston House abuts a rock shelf upon which architects Aaron Roberts and Thomas Bailey once sat, dreaming up ideas for the design.

“The floor is one of my favorite parts of the house, as it was a real challenge for the construction—we only had one chance.” —Henrik Lepasoon, resident

In addition to being a great place to pick up some of your favorite Kid Robot designs, Dream In Plastic’s colorful storefront is also home to cult-zine Clutter, and a host of hard-to-find toys and memorabilia.

Part surf shack, part modernist dwelling, this 2,500-square-foot house on Sweden’s southwestern shore is no fussy show home. Board storage is integrated into the design, so residents just grab and go—and nobody worries about sand or wet footprints brought in from the beach on the concrete floor.

Mrs. Fritz Burns in her dream kitchen, using her built-in hydraulic dishwasher, in a Los Angeles house designed and built in 1946 in by her contractor husband, Bob Landry.

Henrik and Karin Lepasoon relax in their outdoor seating area that faces the ocean. They purchased the property in 2005 and began building five years later. “We used to take road trips in Europe every summer,” says Henrik, “but when Oskar was born we thought it would be nice to be in one place.”

“The roof is my favorite part of the house,” says Henrik. “It’s a real challenge to get this lightness of roof with the whole construction in line with the Case Study Houses in Sweden. We have the weather here. Many houses don’t get the proportions right and it looks like a hat on a house.”

This industrial-style kitchen with stainless steel counter tops is a chef's dream.

Seoul architect Byoung-soo Cho designed the sofas in his urban dream house to resemble building blocks.

A Whistler A-Frame | British Columbia, Canada Scott & Scott Architects design an outdoorsy Vancouver family’s dream cabin

Antonio and Estela have been together since they were teenagers and today have two teenage children, a son and daughter. The couple built a business together and lived in rented accommodation but always dreamed of having their own home. As their company became increasingly successful, they had the opportunity to not just buy but create their dream home. Interestingly, for a home that values privacy, the front garden is conceived as a semi-public space.

Hale and Maisie peer out of one of the living-room windows, from where Edmonds (pictured at left with Pippa) dreams about installing a zip-line directly to their garden patch.

my dream bathroom

On choosing the dining table and chairs from Ikea ($1700) Kara had a moment of: “Are orange chairs too much? But I had a dream about it that night, so I was like, no, it's not too much,” says Kara. The rhubarb print is a commission from Soft Side Prints for $800. “That ties back to our time living in Copenhagen,” says Kara. “The Danes will never admit this, but they love rhubarb."

Architect Richard Hammond and his wife, Daniela, a designer, saw their move to San José as a temporary adventure. But when they found an abandoned, partially built house on a beautiful sloping site, they decided to turn it into their dream home, putting down more permanent roots in the process.

"The pink palette for Dream corresponds to the color of cotton candy and marshmallows, or of sweet dreams, which for some reason I always imagine to be pinkish-toned," says Feifei.

This Santa Monica home is solar-powered. Inspired by Paul Rudolph's Umbrella House, the architects—one of whom worked in Rudolph's New York office—installed solar panels into a steel-beam canopy that shades and powers almost the entire property.

Pink Umbrellas by Claude Cormier Canada’s Sugar Beach, located in downtown Toronto, offers a whimsical way to experience sand and water in an urban environment. To ratchet up the fun, Montreal designer Claude Cormier dreamed up these pink umbrellas to shade visitors in an area also featuring a colorful fountain display. The hues at Sugar Beach fit the name and contrasts the downtown core.