New interior finishes, furniture, and a guesthouse were part of the restoration/renovation of John Lautner's Chemosphere, a 1960s house that makes frequent cameos in film and television.

Legendary California architect John Lautner drew a complete set of plans for an additional studio, maid's quarters, changing room, and pool, that were never realized.

Tracy Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge spent four years shopping for furnishings, fixtures, and lighting to outfit the guest rooms, sourcing steel hardware in Hong Kong, vintage lighting in Italy and France, and many mid-century pieces in their backyard, aka Palm Springs’s renowned vintage shops.

Finds included Bertoia barstools, a J. Wade Beam coffee table, and a chrome Thonet-inspired chair in Unit One and a Warren Platner coffee table and chair in Unit Four.

Each of the four units has a private patio.

To maximize guests’ experience of Lautner’s legendary approach to daylight, Beckmann and Trowbridge forewent blinds or curtains on the windows and glazed walls, offering guests sleeping masks instead.

The eat-in kitchen features poured-in-place concrete countertops and redwood wall paneling.

This is Unit 1, the most private of the four units. It's got a cool Milo Baughman sofa, a polished chrome coffee table by J. Wade Beam, a pair of Bertoia barstools, and a Thonet-inspired chair.

Photo by John Lautner.

Photo by John Lautner.

Photo by John Lautner.

This was my room, Unit 2. It's the only one with the bed pushed up against the window, set on a unique cantilevered bed frame created by Trowbridge, a furniture designer. It took a little while to get used to the lack of curtains; the designers opted to keep the glazed walls open, to maximize guests' experience of Lautner's legendary approach to daylight. The surrounding walls offer plenty of privacy from prying eyes, though, and a provided sleep mask blocks out morning rays.

Marrying the interior with the outdoors informed the design, as did the concept of subtraction: “If you do it with two, then you can do it with one,” Maniatis says, articulating Roger’s algebra of minimalism. Photo by: Kirk Gittings

Architect Hank Louis worked with Navajo tribe elders to secure a 66-year lease on a half-acre lot in the middle of Bluf, Utah, for Rosie Joe and her children. The facade of their off the grid house is made up of exposed wood, red rammed earth, and glass.

David Easton, a pioneer in the field of rammed-earth construction, developed sturdy blocks made from recycled and waste material and then used them to build a house for himself and his wife, Cynthia Wright, in collaboration with designer Juliet Hsu.

This is Unit 4, the only one with a redwood dividing wall between the kitchen and the living room (the rest have open concrete islands).

Roger and Mary Downey’s 3,200-square-foot rammed-earth home seems to float next to the forest along the Rio Grande in Corrales, New Mexico. While the home’s design and materials nod to the neighboring adobe farmhouses and agricultural sheds, architect Efthimios Maniatis of Studio eM Design calls them an amalgam of “modern contemporary regionalism,” governed by Roger’s strict mandate for minimalism.

Asked to find an ecologically sustainable building solution, blaanc turned to a vernacular building technique that still thrives in certain pockets of rural Portugal, rammed earth.

Easton and Wright in their dining room. The redwood flooring in the living and dining rooms continues onto the deck.

Resident Misha Bukowski plays with young Zachary in the walkway between the renovated buildings. The new units are clad in stained local cedar.

The Balancing Barn in Suffolk: On the edge of a nature reserve a few miles from the Suffolk coast, the MVRDV-designed Balancing Barn cantilevers over the surrounding meadow.

John Lautner Griffith Park Nature Center, 1972 (Courtesy Getty Research Institute)

Screened by the sliding door, Rosa cozies up with a book in the bedroom, while across the apartment Robert uses the hydraulic kitchen table as a work desk. “We wanted to explore the power of custom design by creating integrated furniture to maximize both efficiency and aesthetics,” says Rosa.

An aluminum-framed door leading to the terrace provides an added sense of depth, integrating outside with inside. Here, the metal contrasts sharply with the natural birch flooring.

A bit of private space between the apartment and the street.

In Unit 3, the first room to be renovated, Trowbridge demonstrates a James Bond-esque element: a hidden television secreted behind a hinged framed painting.

The clean, simple lines of Indigo/Slate Dinnerware by Heath Ceramics, based in Sausalito, California, showcase the materials to their best advantage.

Pork Chop, the dog, has plenty of comfortable places to nap between meals.

Listed for the first time in 30 years, John Lautner’s Tyler House is a timeless dwelling set on a secluded lot just minutes from Ventura Boulevard.

Choosing not to make a big to-do of itself, this cottage blends in with its surroundings. A wall of glass on one end allows a merger of the outdoors with the interiors, while white trim leaves the appearance of a snow-kissed façade year-round. Berlin, Germany. By Atelier st Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

Transformer or beach hut? Positioned in a coastal erosion zone, this holiday retreat for a family of five is completely capable of being relocated. An oversized shutter allows for protection from the elements when not in use and opens to allow sun in during the winter or provide shade on hot summer days. Waikato, New Zealand. By Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects, from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

The ever-changing, lush wooded surroundings of Minnesota, such as those experienced at this 8,000-square-foot Type Variant House outside of Minneapolis designed by Coen and Partners, are right near the small town of New Richland.

Rocks and earth are visible between the steel blades one as visitors walk down the path. In the dark lower areas of the structure, daylight creeps in through cracks between earth and steel.

Edward De Reza of Watershed Materials uses a pump to fill blocks with concrete grout, which works with reinforcing steel to shore up the walls of the home.

On the other side of the fence—built to protect the property from flash floods—is a desert oasis with cactus-lined walkways and patios set with butterfly chairs.

All the bathrooms are tiled with Heath Ceramics seconds in rich hues. Opting for an approach of adaptive reuse over strict preservation, Beckmann and Trowbridge ripped out the dated pedestal sinks and cast-iron tubs and replaced them with modern wall-mounted sinks and spacious walk-in showers.