NOEM, a Barcelona–based architecture firm, created a metal-clad house for a young client just outside Madrid. It’s raised 12 feet off the ground to offer better views of the landscape, lending it "the futuristic feeling that it just landed," says Pol Guiu, one of NOEM’s cofounders.

Gray-purple iron railings, a fuchsia and green wooden entry, and garage doors provide contrast to the white walls of this Santa Barbara home. Photo by Steven Holmes.

New pine and spruce wood from the Pyrenees (both recyclable and PEFC certified) were selected for the façade of the 1,000-square-foot prefab. Smart blinds cover the windows, rigged to open and close depending on the weather forecast.

GilBartolomé Architects says the metal facade looks like "the skin of a dragon set in the ground when seen from below" but "waves of the sea when seen from above."

In the living room of the Barcelona apartment designer Elina Vila D’Acosta-Calheiros shares with her husband, Ginés Gorriz, Arne Jacobsen Swan chairs join a sofa by Piero Lissoni for Living Divani. The cabinet is from Cappellini, as is the Marcel Wanders Big Shadow lamp.

The home is divided into two floors: seen here is the second floor, where the bedrooms enjoy private balconies and ocean views. The shared spaces, such as the living room and kitchen, are below.

That heat is then transferred to the old stone walls underneath. From there, the stone slowly radiates the warmth into the interior, keeping it around 70°F even as night temperatures drop to 25°F. A wood-burning stove compensates for cloudy days. (For the thermally-savvy, the polycarbonate has a U value of 1.1 W/m²K).

A built-in desk by NOEM FabLab folds into the wall when not in use.

Automated shutters overhead provide privacy when closed and shade the deck when open.

After months of arduous design and construction, Marmol and Becket are thrilled to escape Los Angeles for their idyllic desert retreat.

Zaragoza Airport, in northern Spain. Photo courtesy of Luis Vidal + Architects.

NOEM integrated the mechanical systems behind a purple screen for users to access. This “hub” is the first thing visible upon opening the front door.

The best way to integrate different furniture styles is to treat “the space like a gallery and place objects according to their colors,” internationally acclaimed designer Jaime Hayon says. He cautions against using too much natural wood furniture in a space with wood floors: “You need contrast.” In his newly renovated home in Valencia, Spain, contrasting materials, small porcelain objects, and an occasional black form enliven a palette of light gray furniture. Photo by: Nienke Klunder

The ornate facade of the Art Nouveau building carries over into the entrance. The floral pattern of the original tile floor begins in the entrance hall and continues throughout the apartment; it is offset by a sleek iron table from Minim.

The restaurant El Pinton in Seville, Spain.

Puente Nuevo, Spain-Three impressive bridges span the gorge that cuts through the southern Spanish town of Ronda. The "new bridge" is the most dramatic. Photo: papalars

Aside from its dramatic appearance, the home's subterranean construction comes with an energy efficiency advantage: the surrounding soil is a constant 67 degrees, thereby helping to keep the interiors comfy year-round.

The Campus Palmas Altas serves as the corporate headquarters for Abengoa, one of Spain's largest engineering and energy companies, in Seville. Completed in 2009, it has been awarded LEED platinum status. Photo courtesy of Luis Vidal + Architects.

Inside the home, soft oak flooring and the immaculate white walls and furniture “maximize the sensation of light,” Martín says.

Spruce clads the interior walls and ceilings.

In sharp contrast to the industrially-manufactured components used to build the first floor, the second floor features a hand-made Catalonian vaulted brick roof.

The undulating roof is reinforced concrete covered with hand-made and hand-installed metal tiles. The home was built when the Spanish economy was especially depressed, so in lieu of factory-made construction components, the architects used local labor for fabrication and installation whenever possible.

“The plan was to enter the house through the machine room, like in Han Solo’s spaceship, the Millennium Falcon,” Guiu says.

The fiberglass furniture was designed digitally but manufactured on site as well.

The rest of the building is insulated with recycled cotton—4.75 inches in the walls, almost 8 inches in the roof—to keep the interior temperature stabilized.

Spanish Rooftop Ready for Its Closeup (Barcelona, Spain) While the owner claims this designer apartment is where Bond would stay in El Born, the rustic rooftop could even drag M out of M16 headquarters for a Spanish holiday. Panoramic views of the Catalan playground contrast nicely with the sleek, slate-colored interior, which, based on the incredible perspective, probably isn’t where you’ll be spending most of your trip. Listing at Petit Lego Barcelona WiFi 007

Nani Marquina stands in front of her latest line of rugs, Chillida, a reinterpretation of artist Eduardo Chillida's work, released in 2012 at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile.

The Hospital Can Misses in Ibiza, Spain. Photo courtesy of Luis Vidal + Architects.

Outdoor facilities were also carefully considered to cater to the residents' desire to spend plenty of time outside. The pool in the front yard is complemented by a designated barbecue area and outdoor bathroom. Garden sensors monitor soil moisture and irrigation levels.

In the master bedroom, an original Aalto L leg chair from 1953 offers an idyllic spot to tie shoes.

In the guest room, for example, the built-in unit contains a pull-down Murphy Bed, which makes the most of the elongated space.

High ceilings with restored gypsum mouldings are another nod to the structure's historic past. "The project is best understood as an art gallery whose main objective is to offer the best possible frame to exhibit art whilst at the same time providing an optimal experience for its users," says Victor Alavedra, a partner of the firm. Glass doors connect the kitchen to the guest room beyond.

By creating so much open space, the family can feel connected even while on separate floors. “We were looking for an easy and fast connection among the four levels,” says the firm.

The firm also framed all of the original mosaic tiles with oak parquetry, a discrete detail that blends seamlessly with the material palette of the new cabinetry throughout, while also accentuating each mosaic composition to appear almost as a graphic rug. The pendants above the kitchen workspace are Duo pendants by Anglepoise.