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.

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

“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

Suzanne and Brooks Kelley at the back of their 1,100-square-foot guest cottage.

The owners toured this home, which surrounds a mature tipu tipu tree, while visiting relatives for the day. The brick is original to the 1947 construction.

“A building can have far greater impact than the space it stands in.”—William Carpenter, architect and resident

Sliding doors by Quantum were made to look like the original panes that couldn't be saved, and they lead to a fire pit outside.

New zoning allowed for a zero-lot-line structure, but required a public storefront, which Carpenter uses as an art gallery.

This "local prefab" home on the Isle of Skye is made mostly from materials sourced in northern Scotland. The timber-framed model, meant to evoke the simple agrarian barns of the area, can be constructed on-site in as little as a day and is designed for affordability.

It’s a good idea to read reviews about specific pieces before buying them, which can help prepare you for the unexpected.

Black and white kitchen cabinets painted with a triangular pattern add a whimsical touch to this funky kitchen.

With more than 400 objects, the Indianapolis Museum of Art's contemporary design collection is among the largest of its kind in North America. Photo by Eric Lubrick.

The 9,000-square-foot main gallery showcases contemporary design objects since 1980. Photo by Eric Lubrick.

Chair One by Konstantin Grcic. Photo by Eric Lubrick.

Extra Big Shadow lamp by Marcel Wanders. Photo by Eric Lubrick.

The gallery focuses on post-1980 design, a period of growth and creativity. Photo by Eric Lubrick.

The museum's Department of Design Arts was founded in 2007 and focuses on representing a wide range of media, including furniture, glass, ceramics, metal work and product design from the United States, Europe, and Asia. Photo by Eric Lubrick.

Photo by Eric Lubrick.

Designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners, the museum was recently awarded the AIANY Design Award for the wing. Curved white walls guide the visitor through free-standing displays while a skylight system fills the space with natural light.

See Arch restored the exterior fireplace wall and painted it a deep blue hue to match the repainted blue timber cladding.

When Abbie and Bill Burton hired Marmol Radziner to design their prefab weekend home, their two requests were “simple-simple, replaceable materials,” says Abbie—such as concrete floors (poured offsite in Marmol Radziner's factory) and metal panel siding—and “the ability to be indoors or outdoors with ease.” Deep overhangs provide shade and protection from rain, so the Burtons can leave their doors open year-round and hang out on their 70-foot-long deck even in inclement weather. They visit the house once a month, usually for a week at a time, with Vinnie and Stella, their rescue Bernese Mountain dogs. Their two adult children occasionally join them. The couple hopes to one day retire here.

Having lived, he says, in “a number of houses where the living room is the most adorned and the least used,” it was important for Lazor to create a functional family living space. As the gathering above attests, it worked. The carpet is by InterfaceFLOR, and the armchairs by Blu Dot.

The bath’s Kohler Purist fixtures and Frederick Weinberg animal figures sit on a Corian countertop

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

The Airstream Haus’s interior is minimalist, but comfortable, boasting a fully functional kitchen and queen-size bed that doubles as a couch.

The Kelleys furnished the cottage with help from Suzanne’s daughter Betsy Burbank of Betsy Burbank Interiors. Classic modernist icons, such as a Saarinen Womb chair for Knoll, a Herman Miller Eames lounge chair, and an Eileen Grey E1027 side table look at home alongside present-day pieces such as an Encore sofa (which handily folds down into a sleeping surface) from Room & Board and a Doka rug designed and produced by Stephanie Odegard. The Wohlert pendant lights from Louis Poulsen were designed by Vilhelm Wohlert in 1959, but grouped as such, they appear distinctly contemporary.

The Airstream Haus, parked in Ojai, California. August says that when your dwelling is small, it’s important to make the most of outdoor space.

The concrete wall mimics the slope of the hill outside as a reference to early Maori structures that were dug into the land. The simple kitchen has strandboard cabinetry and an MDF island that conceals a fireplace at one end. The ceramic works on the built-in seat at right are by Raewyn Atkinson and Robyn Lewis.

After living on and studying a woodsy acre of land in North Zealand, Denmark, architect Jesper Brask cleared a stand of pine trees and, from the timber, built a getaway open to its surroundings. The house, which Brask shares with his wife, Lene, and sons, Kristian, Jens, and Niels, is used mainly in summer, when the weather is optimal for throwing open the glass doors.

“I really believe buildings are part of a city as an organism.”—William Carpenter, architect and resident