A Case Study bed and Nelson ball lamp make for a cozy nook in the guest room, which has a private outdoor patio. White walls and black steel window frames serve to accentuate the home’s unique geometry.

The house is a simple cement and steel box with elements that fold outwards to create privacy screens where needed. A perforated aluminum fence unravels from the building down toward the street. The material was selected to deter local graffiti artists from leaving their mark. Instead, a recycled brick wall serves as an appropriate canvas for street art.

Entering the house by the front door (right), the first view one gets is of the color-shifting fiberglass light wall before turning left and entering the main living area, where the couple's dog Ruti likes to lounge. "Whenever possible, I like to open up views, not reveal everything at once, which is why I made a subtly entryway to the house," Robertson says. "It's nice to not walk right into a room but instead let things unfold as you move through the home."

To most eyes, Ezequiel Farca’s 1970s-style concrete home in Mexico City looked like a teardown. Even the lot itself—shallow and crammed against a steep hillside—wasn’t particularly alluring. But Farca saw through all the restraints to create a spa-like refuge in one of the world’s most energetic cities. "It’s is such a hectic place. You’re bombarded by so much information the moment you step into the streets," says Farca, who first gained prominence as a furniture and interior designer. "So we envisioned this house as a retreat, a kind of a temple." The rooftop courtyard is lined with a verdant mix of indigenous plants, including banana trees, palm trees, lion’s claw, Mexican breadfruit, and native vines. The chaise longues were designed for Farca’s EF Collection.

Growler Bike Grand Rapids designer Joey Ruiter made the 29th Street Bike to withstand whatever the road can give out, with room for fat, shock-absorbent tires built into the durable, industrial frame. Then he basically rode away from the competition by adding a growler holder. Nobody can guarantee a smooth (i.e. non-foamy) ride, but at least you’ll have something refreshing for when its over. Visit Inner City Bikes to order the 29th Street “Growler” Bike Frames.

In Mazda Design: The Car as Art, the automaker explored ways to convey dynamic motion through design. The Bike by KODO Concept features a steel frame that was handmade by Mazda's craftsmen and leather seat that uses the same stitching technique as Mazda's car upholstery.

In the outdoor dining room, wire chairs by Harry Bertoia for Knoll surround a mango wood table made by a local carpenter, Diego Madrazo.

The best.

Known for furniture and interior design, Ezequiel Farca transformed a 1970s-style concrete home in Mexico City into a tranquil sanctuary. The temple-like retreat blends into the hilly Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood with its pale gray-green hue and strategic plantings, which soften the boundaries between house, garden, and street. The Recinto lava stone patio accessed through the living room holds teak outdoor furniture designed by Farca himself.

"The longer I work as an architect, the more I want to deepen my skills as a gardener," says Yuri Zagorin Alazraki, founder of the Mexico City firm ZD+A. In building his own house in Mexico City’s Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, his commitment has produced results that appear miraculous. In fact, they grow out of a carefully choreographed series of bravura design moves.

An Almond bathtub by Porcelanosa is accented by a tub filler from Hansgrohe.

The “murdered kitchen” includes a fluorescent light sculpture with dimmable ballasts designed by Bestor. The rough plywood offers a nice chromatic contrast.

In an effort to create an abundance of light and air flow throughout the space, the home follows an L-shaped floor plan that wraps around outdoor areas. “We designed several open spaces, each with a different feel: the garden and pool, the terrace, and the back patio,” says Cesarman. “The idea was to reduce the area to the most basic and essential [elements].”

Bike rack by Artifox, $250 The sleek, narrow profile of this wall-mounted bike rack, designed by St. Louis–based studio Artifox, makes for both a space-efficient storage solution and a display unit for a proud bicycle owner. Made of solid hardwood and stainless steel, it comes in white maple (shown) or walnut.

Shinola's creative director Daniel Caudill says, "Our long-term goal is to have everything made here. The current challenge is that since we can't [produce everything domestically], what can we make?" That would be the bicycle, whose parts are made in Wisconsin (frame), California (wheels), Colorado (spokes), and Mississippi (tubing). Photo by: Greg Vore

The Dutchi 3 Limited Edition bicycle by Linus, $675 at linus.com Linus' take on the classic Dutch bike, or roadster, is great for zipping across campus, or across town.

The couple both cycle to work, thus avoiding the crush of London’s public transport. The Brompton fold-up is not only a design classic but one of the most popular cycles in London—though it is also a favorite of bicycle thieves.

"Welcome to the bike city | Jan"

Two screws and an easy installation process lets any bike-owner keep their ride up and away on the Perch rack from ClankWorks, $149.

Public Bikes' Michelangelo Two Bike Gravity Stand is perfect for when you have more than one bike and are short on space. The simple metal stand just rests against your wall—no mounts needed. There's an adjustable top and bottom rack, for you to store one or two bicycles of any shape or size, and lets you choose the heights at which your bikes rest. Photo by: Public Bikes

Rock stands in the doorway to the boys’ bathroom, which is lined with semi-gloss Modern Dimensions tiles from Daltile. “We wanted it to be playful,” Hufft says, “so we chose each color and laid out the tile distribution in Photoshop.”

The home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, is one of the city’s best-known landmarks.

Solid European oak flooring by DuChateau runs throughout the home. The sculpture is by Jorge Yázpik.

Farca furnished the living room with a Serge Mouille three-arm floor lamp, custom sofas from EF Collection, and Surface tables by Vincent Van Duysen for B&B Italia.

A couple—he an entrepreneur working in logistics, she a stay-at-home mother—bought an 8,500-square-foot house here and approached JSa, a Mexico City-based architectural firm, with the idea of remodeling it. The house was poorly sited on its lot in a manner that drew very little natural light. The architects sized it up and quickly realized that the best solution would be to tear it down and start from scratch.

Oak veneer lines the stairwell in between the master bedroom and the children’s wing.

The master bedroom, painted in Whisper by Comex, sports a bed that Farca custom-designed as part of his EF Collection.

Judith and Maple at work in the living space, which has a deck off the side and a view of the neighbors' house.

In the sitting area, two leather Paulistano chairs by Paulo Mendes da Rocha top a rug by Yerra; the wall paint is Comex.

Farca also designed the custom millwork throughout the house, such as the swinging door leading into the dining room. The leather Siren dining chairs are by Holly Hunt.

Photo courtesy of JSa.

Mexico City, population 22,200,000. Mexico City is the largest metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere.

This smart metal rack mounts on a wall and holds your bike by the frame, plus has hooks for all of your accompanying gear in a small footprint. The Bike Dock creator Dave Custer came up with the design after moving into a small studio, where he had limited space for his bike and cycling equipment. Best of all, when your bike isn't hanging up, the Bike Dock can fold up and lay flat on the wall, like a piece of modern art. The project is currently available to back on Kickstarter. Photo by: Dave Custer

Bernard Tschumi, #4 K Series, 1985. Study for La Case Vide: La Villette, Folio VIII, 1985.

This children’s room and playroom caters to one family’s young kids with built-in cabinetry that allows the mess to be hidden away. Hufft designed this marker-board table, which was cut in the shape of Missouri. The ceiling features abstract details from Thomas Hart Benton paintings.