“I love the house more each day,” says Tamami Sylvester of her and husband Michael's home by Sebastian Mariscal in Venice, California. The kitchen, which includes all Miele appliances, is sheathed in custom woodwork from Semihandmade. Accessories from A+R complement the Caesarstone countertops and Franke faucet. A LifeSource Water System provides filtration. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Architectural designer Sebastian Mariscal and project manager Jeff Svitak created a house in Venice, California, for Michael and Tamami Sylvester. Known as Dwell Home Venice for its role as an exemplification of modern architecture, the house is an homage to indoor-outdoor living. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

A guest bedroom, with furniture from Room & Board, overlooks the bridge above the dining courtyard. The home’s landscape architecture is by Ventura, California–based Jack Kiesel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

The living and dining room look out to the central courtyard, promoting indoor/outdoor living. Here, five doors slide into a pocket in the wall to create a nearly 23-foot-wide opening on one side looking into the garden. Another set on the opposite side enhances cross ventilation.

The massing of the home is broken into a series of volumes featuring a palette of Mahogany and Ebony-stained Western Red Cedar. Polished countertops and backsplashes from Caesarstone are showcased in the kitchen and bathrooms and rounded out by custom-made mahogany cabinets.

Requirements for licensed contractors depend on the scope of work and the location of the project.

The couple chose to contrast the wood in the master bath with a smooth Caesarstone counter in Organic White 4600, which was measured and cut specifically for the space. They added a bit of shine with polished-nickel Upton fixtures from Toto. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

The master bedroom leads to its own private courtyard. The rug is from Peace Industry; the Kelvin LED floor lamp for Flos is from Lumens. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Michael and Tamami brought greenery to the master bath courtyard, which is lined with Eco Arbor Designs deck tiles, in the form of succulents in a ceramic Peanut planter by John Follis for Architectural Pottery from Vessel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

The knotty cedar cladding from Crenshaw Lumber was pretreated with an ebony stain from Timber Pro UV—twice on both sides—prior to being brought to the site, where it was left for eight weeks so that it could adjust to the moist seaside air before installation. “Cedar siding swells or shrinks when it gains or loses moisture while it reaches equilibrium with the content of the surrounding air,” says Michael. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

The house rises to nearly the height of the neighboring structure. The plantings on the bridge, which connects the guest pavilion with the master bedroom and media room pavilion, will eventually grow in to create a privacy screen. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

As in other homes by Sebastian Mariscal, such as the Wabi House in San Diego, a series of light and shadows interact against the facade of Dwell Home Venice.

Operable panels of the built-in cabinetry, in chocolate and caramel colors, offer cues to the color palette of more mobile furnishings. Using the same panel material, the architect customized a West Elm couch for the living room.

The striking black-cedar finish surrounds the bedroom courtyard of Dwell Home Venice.

Architect Dan Brunn's #9 Dream House captures the contemporary style of the designers Dwell selected for Decorist.

Yellow vinyl floor tile defines the new living room and keeps the interior from veering too industrial. “You need to offset the brick with something simple,” says Tom. “Otherwise, you get too many textures.” The lights and coffee table were found at local vintage stores.

On a 40-by-120-foot lot, architect Don Dimster designed and built a duplex for himself and his wife, Lisa, the design director at Aether Apparel, along with his filmmaker brother, Dennis, and his wife, Noreen Perez. The group often convenes on the shared rooftop deck, which features a fire pit, mobile shades, and assorted drought-tolerant grasses, and is accessed via a glass-enclosed suspended stair. Photo by Eric Staudenmaier.

One of two Michael Ferguson-designed homes on our tours, the Wilson Residence in Venice is a testament to the evolution of the neighborhood: a traditional bungalow site transformed into the setting for a sleek two-story abode. Photo by Steve King Architectural Photography.

AIA architect David Hertz, known for 747 Wing House, looked to the structure of a butterfly wing when designing this Venice home. The inverted roof of Silver Triangle House (or Butterfly House) captures water that collects in a sump and is used for subsurface irrigation. The roof is just one of the home's sustainable features, which, Hertz says, "are not compromises to the design; they're part of the design." Photo by Laura Doss.

A bridge from the bedrooms to the entertainment areas of Dwell Home Venice traverses the rear yard.

In the 1980s, Steven Ehrlich was among the boundary-breaking architects who helped transform Venice from sleepy to modern. His own home, 700 Palms, received the 2009 AIA Housing Award and continues to transfix with its flexible and sustainable features. Photo by Grey Crawford.

Based in New York City, Cocoon9 takes a unique approach to prefab homes, offering a line of tiny homes with high-quality construction and finishes, smart technology, energy efficiencies, and versatile spaces that are ready for the modern market.

Here's what you need to know before undergoing a building project with a contractor but no architect.

When not in use during winter, the tub is hidden from the home’s view. The entrance has a sheltered overhang for car parking.

A Model 78 side chair by Niels Otto Møller tucks into a custom desk in the master bedroom, a home base from which Friedlander works remotely. The brass pendant light is by Allied Maker.

Top 9 Gardens of 2020: The verdant spaces nominated for the Dwell Design Awards help enliven their biophilic homes.

Here's a look at Method Homes' Paradigm home, a small space that packs a big punch. We especially like the perforated metal awning over the deck.

Escape made a splash by launching a property in Tampa Bay filled with its trailers. But you don’t have to live there to own one.

The Japanese "no-brand" masters of minimalism unveil the first single-story design in their line of prefab homes.

In 2003, Resolution: 4 Architecture was one of 16 firms who participated in the Dwell Home Design Invitational—a competition to design a modern prefab home for $200,000. Their winning design, constructed in Pittsboro, North Carolina, is a groundbreaking case study that combines prefabricated construction with contemporary, modern design.

A double-sided, free-standing vanity and a shower wrapped in a glass lozenge create an indoor/outdoor experience at a San Francisco residence designed by Fougeron Architecture.

Six-inch-square blue tiles cover the walls and floor of the girls’ upstairs bathroom. The towels and rug are also by H&M Home.

"How would a kid draw a house?" architect Per Franson asked himself when designing the Olivero-Reinius family home. The simple prefab structure’s unusual color comes from a traditional source: falu rödfärg, the historic mineral paint that gives the region’s famous barns their red color.

A spacious deck and large glass doors allow for seamless indoor/outdoor living.

Architect Gustavo Costa calls the home library the “project’s heart.” This central space houses the owner’s expansive collection of about 5,000 books, and acts as a meeting place for friends and colleagues. A Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Red and Blue chair completes the space.