By inserting a tunnel made from 36 reclaimed commercial doors and tearing down a handful of walls, LOT-EK and contractor Andreas Scholtz brought light into the formerly unused dark hallway in Maurice Russell (right) and Jorge Fontanez’s apartment. The glossy Safety Red paint by Benjamin Moore catches the light by day but “becomes a richer, darker, very relaxing red at night,” Fontanez says.

Moving the kitchen out of the hallway and rotating the front door 90 degrees and into the tunnel created a much-needed foyer. “Before, when someone entered, they walked straight into the living room,” Russell says. “The lighting from the staircase would ruin the buzz of the party inside.” The new entrance opens into the narrower of the two corridors, from which individuals can access the storage-and-laundry closet, shower room, and powder room. In the kitchen, a 9.4-cubic-foot, 24-inch Liebherr fridge and freezer is tucked into the wall. “I freaked out when I saw it for the first time because it was so tiny,” Russell says. “But it hasn’t been an issue at all; it was just a mental thing. We’ve learned how oversized our old fridge was.”

The renowned Irma Boom Office was inspired by the Rotterdam tile painter Cornelis Boumeester (1652-1733) in designing this tile artwork: a Dutch fleet of herring fishing boats being by a warship.

The tunnel leads from an older to newer part of Amsterdam. The artwork doesn't run the entire length of the tunnel: toward the entrance/exit to the newer neighborhood, the tiles become a gradually darker field of blue (seen here, at left). In addition to grabbing biker's attention and urging them to slow down, the architects write that the tunnel's change from "drawn lines [to] pixels also visualizes the transition in art from the old to the new."

By inserting a tunnel made from 36 reclaimed commercial doors and tearing down a handful of walls, LOT-EK and contractor Andreas Scholtz brought light into the formerly unused dark hallway in Maurice Russell (right) and Jorge Fontanez’s apartment. The glossy Safety Red paint by Benjamin Moore catches the light by day but “becomes a richer, darker, very relaxing red at night,” Fontanez says.

In all, it took the ceramic company—Royal Tichelaar Makkum—5 years to produce the 33,000 floor tiles 46,000 wall tiles. Each tile is the traditional size for a Dutch tile: 5.11 inches (13 cm) square.

Another detail of the warship.

An elevated plaform separates pedestrian traffics from the 15,000 cyclists that use the tunnel everyday. Sound-absorbing steel grates—located over and around the bicycle path—keep the space quiet. "The whole recalls old kitchens in Amsterdam canal houses," write the architects, "so that the tunnel is experienced as a safe place—as an urban room."

Tunnel House by Makiko Tsukada, 2011, Suginami-ku, Tokyo Prefecture

Julia Turner creates enamel-coated metal jewelry that, like Heath's studio ceramics, features a textured surface.

The journey through the dark tunnel to the new, light-filled addition is both a texturally interesting and atmospheric experience, where the contrast between old and new, dark and light, can be felt.

The powder room is a retreat from the main living areas. The firm set off the Victorian ash storage and mirror unit by surrounding it with black hexagon tile. A "sky tunnel" in the ceiling floods the room with natural light.

Clouds, from Tunnel Overlook, Yosemite National Park, Californa (ca. 1934), photographed by Ansel Adams. From the SFMoMA Collection; gift of Mrs. Walter A. Haas. On display as part of the SFMoMA's 75 Years of Looking Forward: The View From Here exhibit, on view through June 27, 2010.

"It only cost about $48,000 to build, which was incredibly cheap," says Turner of the Stealth Barn. "We got the Timber Frame Company to supply the shell, then we clad it and fitted out the interior and windows ourselves. The idea was to take the archetypal black tar-painted agricultural building and make an almost childlike icon of that."

The 510 Cabin is one of Leggitt's designs, executed with the help of student apprentices.

A tunnel leads from the living chamber to the private sleeping areas.

The light at the end of the tunnel-like entrance draws visitors to the oversized slab-style front door.

Subverting the traditional, conservatively cozy British barn conversion, Carl Turner created a getaway in rural Norfolk for himself and his friends to visit, repose, and consider the beauty of agrarian minimalism. Turner reclaimed most of the timber used for the flooring as he renovated buildings in London. He thought his stockpile was big enough for the Ochre Barn, but the scale of the place defeated him. The solution, surprisingly, was eBay, turning up an old mill’s worth of boards.

Located on a 2.6-acre lot, the residence is set far back from the street for privacy and is set adjacent to the Reed-Turner Woodland Preserve.

The tunnel in the Sky Room is just one of the delightful discoveries in this home.

Corner window at entrance. The backside of the house backs up to a steep cliff and an old concrete train tunnel.

Custom wallpaper, made by Joana Avillez and Payton Turner, offers whimsical illustrations of significant historical female figures who worked for social change.

Carl Turner and Mary Martin pose on the porch of the Stealth Barn, a multipurpose structure that plays as a guest cottage, office space, and escape from whatever may be cooking at Ochre Barn.

Delta Shelter by Tom Kundig, in collaboration with Phil Turner of Turner Exhibits. The shutters move on a track to open and close depending on whether the owner wants a view or privacy. Photo by Tim Bies.

Mobile Nap Turner made much of the barn’s furniture from OSB, but the mobile daybed on wheels is a standout piece and allows the user to catch the sun or shade as the mood strikes.

Completed in 2008, the addition to the Bodegas Protos winery in Spain includes over a mile of underground tunnels for aging wine.

A cozy Bodart & Gonay tunnel stove heats the main living area. A black-and-white String pendant light by Flos adds contrast to the wood-clad room.

The cover of Murakami Versailles.

The interiors of this 1850s threshing barn in rural England are finished in OSB. The material, usually used as sheathing under exterior cladding, reminded the project’s architect Carl Turner of the straw that was once held in the barn.

After passing through a long, dark tunnel and a small reception area, guests are welcomed into the largest gallery, which leads to other cave-like spaces.

Turner.Works transformed an old barn into a seven-bedroom retreat in the British countryside.

Pendant by Matthew Fairbank Design.

Clock by Ding3000 for Discipline.

The structure of the coop was inspired by the new bus shelters and newsstands in New York City.

“With a crackling fire that heats the hot tub, solar panels, cisterns, Murphy bed, shower and compost toilet, this off-grid structure is virtually maintenance-free, and should look and function the same 100 years from now,” says GreenSpur founder Mark Turner.