Six-year-old twins Nicolas and Constanza use Pentimento as their “little battleground,” says Pasternak. “They have some options here that they will not find anywhere else.” Among those options are a climbing wall offering easy access to the roof.

A-Z Flashcards and Blocks Set, $28 at the Dwell Store Created for the child’s active imagination, the A-Z Flash Cards and Wooden Blocks by Hungry Little Minds combines 26 design and architecture inspired alphabet cards with 36 European beech wood building blocks. This unique combination of materials allows the child’s mind to associate form and language as new ideas emerge.

Blockitecture Wooden Blocks, $25 at the Dwell Store This set of ten blocks takes classic building blocks to new, architectural heights. Each block is hand painted, giving the blocks a distinctive finish. Combine multiple sets to create tall towers or clusters of modern buildings.

The rear of the house looks onto a lush backyard. The rough, industrial prefabricated concrete panels by the German manufacturer Syspro are the building blocks of the home.

The Constructures Building Set from Brinca Dada is an educational and modern toy. The set is made up of a collection of windows that can be stacked and placed to create modernist structures. An elevated take on classic building blocks, this set will be a treasured toy for budding modernists.

Naef Modulon Building Blocks, $285.95 at The Creative Home.

Nix and Novak-Zemplinski designed the black-steel bookshelves and had them fabricated at a local metal shop.

ShapeMaker Wooden Blocks by Miller Goodman via Dwell Store $75.00 Get creative with ShapeMaker's twenty-five colorful hand printed blocks made of sustainable rubber wood.

Designed by Alex Hochstrasser, this award-winning rocking toy could be a chair, a sled, a spinning top, a cradle, or anything the developing mind can imagine.

BLOCK TABLE The light and airy design of Block Table, created by Danish designer Simon Legald, offers a fresh take on the familiar tray table. Outfitted with wheels and four handles extending from the legs, it is easy to move around as well as highly versatile. May be used as a bar cart, side table, tea table, coffee table or bedside table.

This set of faceted balancing blocks from Fort Standard is a sculptural upgrade from stackable cubes.

Blocks by Tegu.

Sawatzky designed the bookshelves along the living room wall out of Ikea components: one-inch Lagan butcher block countertops and inexpensive Ekby Lerberg brackets. She also used pieces of the strong and attractive countertops for built-in shelves in the upstairs lounge as well as for trim in the kitchen.

A sweeping terrace area is home to the hotel's restaurant, run by Chef Jose Enrique.

For a more sculptural statement piece, or a place for kids to play, one can stack the unit with wooden building blocks. Photo by Vicky Lam.

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.

The open observatory.

Each of the four units has a private patio.

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

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.

On the north-facing facade, it’s easy to discern where the original glass doors used to open directly to the deck. In spring of 2012, Block Island contractor John Spier replaced the entire wall of glass panels.

With neighboring duplexes supplying rental income, two Knoxville architects patiently—and affordably—craft their dream home. Their deck has a two-sided concrete block fireplace and antique wooden furniture.

Interior spaces feature Mahogany floors and casework. The thick walls, courtesy of the 12" Rastra Blocks, allow for deep storage niches.

Block It OutSeeking an inexpensive way to create a screen effect between the bathroom and bedroom, Novak-Zemplinski and Nix hit on the idea of stacked open-cell concrete blocks, more typically used in parking areas. They discovered blocks with a more-interesting-than-average pattern in Chyżne, a town near Kraków. Better still, they cost just two dollars each. “When we saw how good these parking blocks looked in the bedroom, we thought they’d be a good way to hide clutter in the kitchen, too,” says Novak-Zemplinski. chyzbet.pl

Fortification can be as obvious or well hidden as a client demands; indeed, some of the most protected homes are the ones that seem not to have a single security guard or camera in sight.

The Dado Cube set from Fat Brain Toy Company includes ten plastic blocks which can interlock to create countless surreal structures.

The Block bench by L.A. studio Sitskie is made of an interlocking block system that molds itself according to the sitter’s position. Each block in this handmade chair can be taken out and replaced without disrupting other blocks.

Eames House Blocks via House Industries $150.00 Take a tour of your own through the Eames House (also known as Case Study House No. 8) with this basswood block puzzle, which pays tribute to the iconographic midcentury landmark.

Originally, glass doors opened to the deck, but after years of gusty winds, it was decided that a side entrance, protected by a sliding steel door, would be the preferred entrance.

Photo by Colin Block

Block by Tom Dixon Also never formally trained as an architect, Tom Dixon conceived his home more as an “industrial product." Block comprises a build-as-you-go kit that can expand with the addition of modular spaces, whether that’s another bedroom, kitchen, or outdoor deck. The exterior is made of foreboding aluminum, while the interiors are softened with cork, which also adds to the home’s sound and heat insulation.

The kitchen features stainless steel prep counters, a Samsung stove, and Panasonic over-the-range microwave. The room is bordered by two full walls of windows, allowing light to flood the space at all times of the day. A custom birch butcher block table furnishes the family gathering space.

A bright-yellow “R” sign, from a truck that used to deliver furniture from Jens Risom Design, sets off the southern facade. When Jens designed the house, he stipulated that he wanted cedar shingles, not the asphalt ones that came with the original design from the catalog.

Jett rolls dough on a butcher block-topped storage unit that slides under the countertop to save space.