On the domestic scale, QuaDror not only provides the structural integrity of the home, but adds quite a bit of visual interest to the interior.

Wee Approve Inflate the scale of the support trestles, add floors and ceilings, and you have the core of the QuaDror prefab house. The QD 01-06 dwellings, created in partnership with Minnesota prefab outfit weeHouse, range from 900 to 3,000 square feet—“single and double story, and two versions that are elevated off the ground, which is beneficial for certain climates,” Benshetrit says. As with the trestles, the QD interlocking frame modules, constructed from eight beams, are shipped flat and set up onsite. “The whole house shouldn’t take more than a few days to assemble,” the designer says. “It’s really and truly a kit—a lucid system that results in a product you park on your land.” QD 01-06 houses will be available this spring.

A wall of custom cabinets made with Paldao wood veneer defines the kitchen. "We wanted them to be as clean and minimal as possible but to have a warm texture," Slade says. "The aluminum countertop, resin upper cabinets, and satin mirror glass backsplash are designed to reflect light."

"Many of the decisions were about maximizing luminosity within the apartment," principal James Slade says. The open-plan kitchen and dining room features a custom walnut picnic-style table.

Ølsen, a hip restaurant in Palermo Soho, specializes in contemporary Swedish cuisine and serves Sunday brunch until 8 p.m.

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.

Photo courtesy of Dror Benschetrit.

The light comes from four incandescent strips affixed to the frame. Only when open do the grids of crystal take their swooping, parabolic form. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

In this design, Benshetrit moves the chandelier to the floor and studs it with 6,400 Swarovski crystals. The same geometry is in play, but instead of serving as the object's sheer muscle, it instead is merely the frame.

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

Christophe Berdaguer and Marie Péjus named their building “Gue(ho)st House” after Marcel Duchamp’s aphorism “A guest + a host = a ghost,” which appeared on a piece of ephemera he made in 1953. The duo translated the artist’s wordplay into architect-ural form, and said: “A house is a place where the hosts and guests share spaces. This project is like a third person, who in this context, looks like a ghost.”

Breitner advises playing with proportion when renovating long, narrow interiors. "It's not always better to open the plan up as much as possible," she says. "We found that creating spaces of familiar proportions helped the space to feel less narrow and made the rooms feel more livable."

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.

The Donald Judd Home and Studio in SoHo, which recently reopened following a restoration by Architecture Research Office and Walter B. Melvin Architects.

On the corner of Prince and Sullivan in SoHo lies The Dutch restaurant. A former "leafy corner" that housed the Cub Room for years, Roman and Williams completely renovated the restaurant to have three main dining areas. Inspired by early SoHo, American roadside diners, and Scandinavian modernists like Alvar Aalto, the result is a fresh, cool take on an American classic—a familiar place that is timeless and will age well.

White brick walls and high glossed ceilings clad the interior. At the bar, open wood-and-metal stacked shelving stores various restaurant wares, such as glasses, matchbox jar, and mini condiment containers.

"The entire space is an exercise in looking both forward and back, in combining the formal and the informal—from the history of the space, to the eclectic menu, to the mix design references inside."

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.

Mami and Goo the Kishu dog return from a frolic in the forest, which the couple, along with Hideaki, has thinned and trimmed back over many weekends. It’s an idyllic escape and a world away from the concrete expanse of Tokyo.

In Seattle's rapidly developing South Lake Union neighborhood, the Art Stable is a classic example of urban infill. Built on the site of a former horse stable, the seven-story mixed-use building carries its history into the future with highly adaptable live/work units.

A freestanding, cuboid structure, the synagogue is signifcantly lower and more compact than its neighbors.

The 600 openings subtly articulate the building’s function by day or night.

McKelvey says he directs his design team to create moments that are "shareable"—meaning that they create appeal for the Instagram audience.

All Phifer’s 25 employees work around a hundred-foot table. Phifer maintains the monochromatic palette down to the mouse pads.

Japanese showers are usually set low down so the bather can sit on a stool and scrub, then pour cedar buckets of hot water over their heads for a refreshing rinse. This homeowner in Venice, California mounted a handheld shower head on the wall for added flexibility. The drain is under the removable cedar floor slats, keeping the room design uncluttered. Wood tubs are cleaned with a simple rinse and last for decades, as the antiseptic properties of cedar guard against mold and rot. This ofuro was designed by Santiago Ortiz and fabricated by Bartok Design.

Choosing a kitchen or bathroom countertop can be nerve-wracking, and we understand why—they can be one of the most expensive aspects of a renovation, with the added responsibility of impacting the aesthetics of a space. Read on as we work our way through the pros and cons of seven of the most common countertop materials.

Tanya, Chris, Jackson, and Zeke spend much of their day outside.