Photo courtesy Reinhold Andris Office, Walddorfhäslach.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Split Table by Staffan Holm, $2,950

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

Arik Levy for Ton, Hall 12 Stand C05 at Rho.

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.

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

Design-build firm Blue Truck, working with Rough Workshop on the construction, expanded a split-level midcentury house in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles for a family of four: Noel, an entrepreneur, Satoko, a freelance creative director, and their four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter. A partial second-story addition adds necessary square footage, and also opens up new views of the city.

With one half covered in light brick and the other in ipe, the SPLIT house in Toronto reveales two distinct personalities.

Black and white kitchen tiles add visual interest to this stunning modern kitchen by IKEA.

Dan Johnson's 1947 desk is a perfect example of how American modernism often split the difference between clean forms and the speedy streamlining of the era.

Neutra's Kaufmann home was initially designed for living just two months out of the year. Yet after the original owner passed, future tenants attempted to retrofit the space for year-long use. An air conditioning unit was placed atop the roof, and square footage was added, enclosing this courtyard. To return it to its original state, the current owner underwent a five-year restoration and reopened this courtyard to honor the original design. Photo: Tim Street-Porter

The first step was to tear out the existing wall-to-wall carpeting and replace it with cabin-grade, oak flooring to give the house a classic feel and to help anchor the more modern walls and trim. They ordered the flooring from a large company and despite it being the cheapest option offered, the total expense came to $2,300 for materials, making the wood floors—according to Anderson—their biggest splurge.

The apartment is accessed via an old freight elevator. The cabinetry around the elevator entrance—including a massive bookshelf and storage space—is black, contrasting with the white brick walls and the white oak joinery.

Pleased with the pop-up they designed last summer, Frame approached i29 again this fall to construct a more long-term installation: a shop meant to evoke a 3-D walk through of an issue of their magazine.

Dump Truck by Green Toys, $20.

Fashion-tech designer Anouk Wipprecht’s white Spider Dress 2.0 was developed with Philip Wilck along the lines of a previous dress she made inspired by arachnids. The 3D-printed robotic garment with eight jointed arms (activated by sensors and Intel Edison chips with artificial bio-signal intelligence) protects the wearer. Depending on the wearer's mood—agitated or pleased—the arms of the dress spring upward to ward off intrusions.

Part of the PIXEL series, the Ripple 2.0 Coffee Table, shown in walnut with powder coated steel pulls, takes the same inspiration of the movement created by a ripple of water and brings it to a different, slightly darker, place by using a different kind of wood and pixelating the motif further.

Split Box shelving by Peter Marigold at the Frozen Fountain.

Difference in knit style help to show a difference in material in the finished piece, like here where porcelain is knitted differently than metal.

The floor tile is from Virginia Tile, while the wall tile is from Daltile.

See Arch replaced many of the original single-pane wood windows with new thermally broken aluminum windows. They also painted the exterior.

aesarstone counters in the kitchen, which best highlights the homes mix of light and wood. White conversion varnish was used on the sink side of the island for durability, with wood on the side of entertainment.

The getaway protrudes like a sculpture from the hillside.

"Selecting furniture for this space was a unique experience because, as it is not our primary residence, we wanted to find the right balance between guest-friendly pieces and custom pieces that felt unique and designed with the space in mind," says Tarah. "We split the difference by sourcing some budget-friendly pieces that were lower impact but high function at a reasonable cost."