Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton behind their London home.

The switchback stairs create a circulation pattern that, according to Bangia, is "noticeably different than what you would find in a typical Brooklyn town house." She adds, "It lends an element of surprise when moving between floors, and a dynamic spatial sense of expansion and contraction.”

Privacy can often be an issue when living in such close proximity with your neighbors. Each of the units include their own private entrance and there are no shared walkways. Whether the unit has a deck or patio, all the units are separated by a wood wall to ensure privacy.

Tall and surprisingly open, the Tel Aviv Town House by Pitsou Kedem Architects continues in the tradition of its Bauhaus-inspired neighbors with a white facade and black window frames.

The house’s street-level entrance shows an openness to its surroundings, and a glass door allows curious passersby a glimpse of the interior. Read more about this light absorbing home here.

The master bedroom features a low-level picture window that opens out to the green space behind the house.

Yang Yeo and his girlfriend Ching Ian relax on the back stoop of their renovated and radically updated Singapore shophouse—an archetypal building type in this busy port city. “Shophouses brought back memories of our childhood,” says Yeo.

The triple-glazed windows provide plenty of natural light.

For now, one-year-old Awa is small enough to sleep in the hammock that hangs from the ceiling.

Christine (at left), and Amanda (at right) chat with David’s sister Aroha Yates-Smith (center) in the kitchen.

The book teaches kids to count from one to 10 by pairing each digit with the same number or a particular style house, like the three Nordic island houses seen here.

“There was too much visual pollution disturbing the simplicity. The goal was to allow the existing buildings to work within a totally new program, each still distinguishable by its own destiny.” —Architect Bart Len

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 clients and design team chose to forego an open floor plan in favor of defined, separated spaces. In this scheme, the vertically oriented spaces act as a cinematic "hard-cut" to their horizontal counterparts. The custom hot rolled steel kitchen, one of these vertical transition spaces, receives light from above through a Velux skylight. A GE Profile Induction cooktop and oven and Miele refrigerator complete the space.

House O, designed by Jun Igarashi, forgoes hallways and interior doors in favor of casually interconnected rooms.

Marcus Lee and Rachel Hart’s wonderful wooden home sits at the end of a quiet London lane and politely turns its back on the workshops next door.

Corporate high-flyers and admitted neat freaks Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton couldn’t handle the chaos anymore. Read more about this Victorian terrace in London here.

“In this house, the roof is the only facade—the rest is dissolved beneath it.” —Architect Aljoša Dekleva

At the entry looking upward towards a Velux skylight, a vertical "sleeve" is made of stacked end grain plywood. The theme of vertical and horizontal architectural elements providing different environmental perspectives carries through to the rest of the home. Horizontal forms look out to the lake, while the vertical columns look up the sky.

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

Paseo Urbano Monumento a la Madre - Eskema Arquitectos

When the owners found the house, it was severely neglected, structurally unsound, and thoughtlessly stripped of architectural detail. At the exterior, imitation stone-asphalt shingles blanketed the facade in a confused mosaic pattern. Through the exterior overhaul, the team intentionally “avoided using ornate moldings or superficial references to traditional forms,” explains Bangia. Integrated with the classic molded bricks, oversized windows, flanked by honed bluestone sills and lintels, offer subtle hints to the modern interior to be unveiled inside.

A light grey-brown brick facade provides a contemporary aesthetic in Montreal’s Rosemont-Petite-Patrie neighborhood. Developer Maitre Carre and the firm Architecture Open Form worked together to introduce a contemporary style to the area. The project includes three two-story town houses and three above with a mezzanine and rooftop patio.

Seen in the architectural context of its London neighborhood, the house is all the more extraordinary: compact, materially innovative, and easy on the eyes.

In the master bath, sandblasted windows let in light while retaining privacy. The tub is from Dado, the vanity and stool are from Ligne Roset, and the Big Bang light is from Foscarini.

The Parklex facade visually connects the main house and coach house. “We wanted to use an exterior material that harmonized with the house’s context, which is an older neighborhood filled with Victorian houses made of Toronto red clay brick,” architect Heather Dubbeldam says.

The minimal design of the Mandakovic House by WMR Arquitectos in Navidad, Los Arcos, Chile, allows its scenic location take center stage. Photo by Sergio Pirrone.

Architect Marco Casagrande designed the Chen House to make use of the nearby Datun River’s breeze. Raising the house on stilts reduces the building’s impact on the earth while preserving the home from flood waters that run underneath post-storm. Sanjhih, Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by Lukas Casagrande.