The whole shebang! Follow the New Design Museum's construction process here.

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.

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

Pros: Concrete countertops are durable, resistant to heat, and can be less expensive than natural stone, especially when completed as a DIY project. Cons: Concrete must be sealed before being used; otherwise, its porous nature means that it will stain very easily.

“The client wanted an interior space where you could read the materiality of the building elements like understanding the ingredients in a recipe,” principal architect Elizabeth Webster explains. The extension features distinctly textured materials: an exposed timber ceiling, painted brick walls, and polished concrete floors. Warm lighting by Brinklicht unifies the space.

Architect Gregory Phillips connected the original house to a new modern extension that doesn’t interfere with the surrounding houses. “I try to be true to the location,”he explains, “so it doesn’t seem like some spaceship has landed.”

The kitchen is situated in a sunken basement, underneath the staircase’s walnuts steps. The same joiner who built the house’s timber elements built the white cabinetry which are finished in a 40% gloss lacquer. Silestone countertops and integrated appliances maintain the space’s simple lines. Additional storage is fitted under the staircase.

Kaffeine Tozer refurbished the interior and exterior of this tiny retail space in Fitzrovia, preserving the existing shopfront and painting it jet-black.

In the kitchen, white MDF cabinets stow tools. A Lebanese cedar island and stainless-steel countertops provide ample work space—and a place to display treasured items, such as the Buono V60 drip kettle by Hario. The island features a Franke sink with a Vola faucet. The oven is by Siemens.

The renovated industrial compound is clad in metallic bronze-glazed bricks from Modular Clay Product, which match the neighboring Victorian terrace homes. The reflective bricks change in appearance as the sun moves through the sky, but always echo the Bronze Casements by Vale windows.

Flying the flag for the American design scene, brands such as Lostine, Roll & Hill and the American Design Club have set up shop within East London design store, SCP. Called the Special Relationship, the show also celebrates the brand's new product launches by young American design talents Fort Standard, Bec Brittian and Mark McGinnis. Also be sure to check out the store's newly opened basement floor, which is entirely dedicated to design accessories.

As in previous years, a series of major installations and events are located at the city's V&A museum in South Kensington including this jaw-dropping chandelier that has been custom-made by Canadian lighting brand, Bocci. Dramatically suspended from the Cupola, which is the highest point of the museum building, the 28.280 by Omer Arbel is a tangled mass of copper pipes and blown glass that hangs above the museum's entrance hall.

The curving bricks of Botta’s Museum 1 recall his signature style as well as his San Francisco Museum of Modern Art building as well as his BIS building in Basel, Switzerland.

Inside Out Architecture renovated an apartment in the Clerkenwell section of central London, removing interior walls to create an open, loft-like living space. The architects were taken in by the "dramatic geometry" of the existing board-formed concrete ceiling, and their design maintained and emphasized its dynamic criss-crosses and texture.

In the bathroom beneath the stairs, copper fixtures and subway tile feel at once sensitive to the home's roots and very of the moment. It is this attention to cohesiveness that the Don't Move Improve! award seeks to recognize.

Where once there was a timeworn 1950s bungalow in the Metropolitan Green Belt south of London, there now stands a dynamic house whose two volumes are joined by a glass atrium. The project was designed by Grant Freeman of OB Architecture.

The house’s stacked floors progress vertically from the communal basement, through the mixed-use mezzanine, to the private bedroom. Its staircase responds to these functions. Perforated folded steel steps between the ground level and mezzanine allow for greater access to sunlight. Between the mezzanine and upper level, solid folded steel stairs and partitions serve as the bedroom’s acoustic barrier.

The renovation was designed to preserve and call attention to the angular pattern of the crisscrossing concrete ceiling beams. Photo by Jim Stephenson.

The bedroom is located on a mezzanine just below the roof of a church. The minimal decor and simple arrangement of the room reflect the client’s modest tastes. The small pewter spotlights and pendant by Holloways of London connect to an exposed galvanized conduit that is set against the brick above the bed.

The staircase is about 46 feet tall from top to bottom.

In the dining room, a James Burleigh table sits beneath a sizeable skylight. Throughout the ground floor, additional lighting is recessed in the coffered ceilings. Painted brick walls provide a reminder of the building’s industrial past.

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.

The ready-to-assemble series will be exhibited in Nomann Copenhagen’s flagship store in Copenhagen until December 5, 2013.

A section of Heatherwick's new bus design, barely clearing in size for an installation within the main staircase of the Cooper Hewitt, emphasizes its impressive scale.

The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, designed by Frank Gehry, 1989.

Second floor of the New Design Museum, showing the Permanent Exhibition. By John Pawson Ltd.

Pegged to the Vitra Design Museum exhibition The Bauhaus: #itsalldesign—the first comprehensive look at the early-20th-century German art movement—this new 464-page book features a range of essays and imagery, including never-before-seen photos and artwork.

Continuing the postmodern theme, esteemed London design showroom, Darkroom, is currently hosting a 'So Sottsass season' with a new collection of merchandise inspired by the visionary Italian architect and designer, Ettore Sottsass.

Over in St James's Park, the highly anticipated collaboration between London-based designer Sebastian Wrong and Danish design brand HAY is on display inside an ornately decorated Georgian townhouse. The opulent interiors provide the perfect contrast for the collection's sleek and contemporary lines.

Continue through the museum's hallways, where you will be greeted by a hypnotic gateway made up of 5000 paper windmills. The installation is the work of Lebanese designer Najla El Zein, who named the piece 'The And Portal' - a playful airway that draws wind and light into the galleries beyond.

The wares have been expertly styled into a playful display that transforms the store's London showroom into a mecca of Memphis.

On the lawn of the Tate Modern museum, architects dRMM have installed a surreal staircase inspired by MC Escher. Overlooking the Thames, the staircase is constructed from a series of giant interlocking staircases made from American Tulipwood and sponsored by the American Hardwood Export Council.

Alongside Nagasaka's Resin Collection, British designer Faye Toogood has created an atmospheric installation called 'The Conductor'. The interactive piece is made up of 160 fluorescent bulbs connected up to a switchboard of cast resin switches. Visitors can operate the switches, which each play a different note when flicked on and off, to create their own personal light and audio show within the space.