Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan collaborated with New Haven, Connecticut, firm Gray Organschi on their midcentury-inspired New York vacation home.

Jonathan Adler and simon Doonan collaborated with New Haven, Connecticut firm Gray Organschi on their midcentury-inspired New York vacation home.

Landscape designer Vickie Cardaro used native grasses and plantings near the swimming pool (opposite). Cushions upholstered in Sunbrella fabric rest atop a Trex deck. The western red cedar ceiling extends through the deep eaves and covered seating area.

On the north-facing facade, it’s easy to discern where the original glass doors used to open directly to the deck. In spring of 2012, Block Island contractor John Spier replaced the entire wall of glass panels.

Originally, glass doors opened to the deck, but after years of gusty winds, it was decided that a side entrance, protected by a sliding steel door, would be the preferred entrance.

A bright-yellow “R” sign, from a truck that used to deliver furniture from Jens Risom Design, sets off the southern facade. When Jens designed the house, he stipulated that he wanted cedar shingles, not the asphalt ones that came with the original design from the catalog.

The skylights are constantly changing the home's interiors. It's "not just day/night, or dark/light," says Bernheimer, "but the quality of light...changes at any given hour, depending on where clouds are, where the sun is, whether the moon is full or not, all dependent on the time of day, time of year, and so forth."

The quiet, minimalist kitchen features a wall in the same “criptoméria" wood used for the bookshelf in the living room. A Davide Groppi Punto 2 PL light hangs over the dining table.

Heating for the unit is provided by a Spartherm fireplace, with electric heating integrated into the magnesite floor. Walls are insulated with fire-tested wool felt under plywood panels.

It takes three to five days to install a Vipp Shelter onsite.

“There’s no right answer except to play and experiment,” says interior designer Jonathan Adler in regards to the Shelter Island getaway he shares with his husband, fellow design expert Simon Doonan. Custom ceramic wall tiles, a few plants, and a self-made rug, stool, and coffee table all add to the home's inimitable decor.

Light streams from above into the living room and kithen thanks to the home's largest skylight. This skylight isn't one large window but two: one on the eastern side of the double-height volume, and one on the western. In between them are sculptural, pyramid-shaped forms that block and diffuse the sunlight throughout the day. In the words of the architects, they "add to the unexpective quality of light" in the space.

The Risom plot, located on the northern portion of the island, is bordered by a low stone wall, an aesthetic element that appears throughout Block Island.

Mid-century designer Jens Risom's A-framed prefab family retreat, located on the northern portion of Block island, is bordered by a low stone wall, an aesthetic element that appears throughout the land.

The kitchen contains an island countertop made of Corian in Glacier White.

Architect Jesse Garlick’s rural Washington vacation home references its rugged surroundings. The steel cladding has developed a patina similar to the ochre-red color of bedrock found in the area.

Rachel Nolan and Steven Farrell’s weekend house is located a couple of blocks from the beach on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula. Built with passive principles in mind, the low-slung structure features double-thick brick walls for thermal massing.

The Conine family’s Jackson Hole hideaway is completely wired.

Steve Conine, a software engineer, installed and programmed many of the details himself, like the Dell UltraSharp flat-screen panels inlaid into the entryway of the home.

Rachel Nolan and Steven Farrell’s weekend house is located a couple of blocks from the beach on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula. Built with passive principles in mind, the low-slung structure features double-thick brick walls for thermal massing. The vertical wood cladding is unfinished spotted gum, a local timber.

A narrow building next to the main structure houses storage and an outdoor kitchen.

The long, lean Kobayashi complex includes a bathroom and storage room in the structure on the far right.

A Hunter Pacific fan cools the master bedroom, which has a custom hardwood bed.

Jean-Christophe Aumas’ multihued Paris apartment houses both the highly sought artistic director and the stunning assemblage of furniture he’s brought back from his travels. Aumas designed the kitchen island, which is covered in marble tiles from Carrelages du Marais—the geometric floor tiles are from the same place—and strung the matrix of lights up above it. The barstools by Charlotte Perriand were discovered in a vintage store in Antwerp, Belgium. The green wall is covered in paint from Emery & Cie.

Kohler, who won the Dwell on Design award for Best Booth, exhibited their new collaboration with Jonathan Adler in a tricked-out shipping container. The sinks all feature bold washes of color, our favorite being this bright teal.

Three of Adler's ceramic designs.

Jonathan Adler's showroom.

In keeping with the island’s rugged character, the new home was pared down to the essentials. Even the floor in the living room, elevated during the construction process to give seated guests sight lines of the coast, helped frame the outdoors. With this philosophy in mind, Vieira da Silva sourced and designed simple, light furniture, such as the custom bookshelves made from “criptoméria," a type of Japanese wood planted in the Azores for construction. The floor lamp, a Sampei model by Davide Groppi, is set above a Lamino Easy Chair by Swedese. Both the sofa and table are also Swedese.

The kitchen island is topped with PaperStone in slate and wrapped in the same steel used to clad the house’s facade. “We matched the color to create a ‘2001: Space Odyssey’ monolith,” Garlick says. He and his wife, Susan Elliott, a chef, cook at the commercial Wolf range they purchased at a restaurant supply store.

Built as part of a functional farmhouse, the original building's ground floor was used to store food and animals, a situation that didn't exactly call for expansive views or large amounts of natural light. Vieira da Silva maintained a similar layout over the two-story home, with social areas on the upper floor and bedrooms on the ground floor, but opened up the lower level with large windows. "With the pre-existing stone walls we created patios, keeping a distance [between the walls] so we could have big openings, and create a close and intense relationship with the landscape and the ruin itself."

Initially unassuming, the E/C home appears hidden from the road, perched on the sloping edge of the island and partially wrapped in the basalt walls from an 18th-century farmhouse. Architects Ines Vieira da Silva and and Miguel Vieira approached the site with a vision to create a relationship with the landscape; they designed the 2,600-square-foot holiday home to not only be a simple escape, but also to frame the weathered coast and reflect its past. “Both paths to the house were designed with basalt stone, as if they were still a rural path,” Vieira da Silva says.

To instill a soft juxtaposition to the brick and concrete in the house, Nolan specified Hycraft’s Carramar wool carpet in the living area. Set a step down, the “pit,” as Nolan refers to it, receives the low winter sun but is shielded from harsh summer rays by the deep eaves. The ledge becomes a casual seating area.

A no-fuss sensibility permeates the house. For example, the utilitarian kitchen has laminate cabinets, a stainless-steel countertop, and a Miele stove and dishwasher. The refrigerator is by Fisher & Paykel. No. 18 chairs from Thonet and a reclaimed-hardwood table are stationed atop a vintage Persian soumak rug from Turkey.

White-and-blue, wood-grain–patterned UonUon tiles by 14oraitaliana line the bathroom walls in a loft above the garage.

Made from Tasmanian oak, the bunk beds, covered in Kivet duvets by Marimekko, can accommodate four.