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Architect Dean Nota gave an austere stucco façade to the Venice, California, livework space he built for Architectural Digest contributing photographer Erhard Pfeiffer, disguising the warmth of the airy, loft-style interior and protecting it from the noise of a high-traffic intersection. Above: He removed an old garage to maximize use of the irregular site, shown in the plan. (October 2008)

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Soon after attending an open-house reception for Marmol Radziner Prefab’s prototype, a Colorado couple commissioned the firm to create a custom prefab residence for vacation use. Secluded on 100 desert acres, the 4,200-square-foot structure, which has two bedrooms and two baths, utilizes solar power. Above: The residence’s T-shaped floor plan. (October 2008)

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Against the backdrop of Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Sandia Mountains, architect Bart Prince conceived a 4,000-square-foot residence for Dan Scherger and Suzanne Kolberg. Above: The floor plan. (October 2008)

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Scott Allen, of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen , took a residence in Port Ludlow, Washington, down to its studs and reimagined it. Of the now double-height entrance, Allen says, “The point of the aperture is to feel as little interruption as possible going from outdoors to indoors,” an idea found throughout the house. Above: The first-floor plan. “Most of our energy was spent reconfiguring the spaces that would become the entrance and the great room,” says the architect. (October 2008)

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A New York couple hired Shelton, Mindel & Associates to renovate their Central Park West apartment. As they did throughout the 8,500-square-foot residence, the architects opened up the living room to more light and better views. The floor plan, includes the architects’ furniture placements. The 100-foot-long window wall is at the top of the drawing. (April 2008)

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Don and Jeanine Cooksey worked with architectural designer Wallace Cunningham to conceive a house for their La Jolla, California, land—a lot that was thought to be unbuildable. The structure, which has four bedrooms and six baths and is done in white concrete, stainless steel and glass, straddles a dramatic coastal canyon. Above: The first-floor plan. (April 2008)

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“It’s a contemporary transformation of a traditional butterfly plan, with stepped gables and shed dormers,” architect Margaret McCurry says of the house she and her associate Jeremy Hinton designed for Paul and Judith Bentley in Oostburg, Wisconsin. Above: The first-floor plan shows the house’s V shape. (October 2007)

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California-based architect Steven Ehrlich designed a dramatic 35,000-square-foot house in Dubai, transforming an arid desert site into a modern oasis of gardens, fountains, terraces and courtyards. Above: The L-shaped floor plan shows the main house and the men’s majlis, where male guests arrive. (October 2007)

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Juan Miró and his partner, Miguel Rivera , of the Austin-based firm Miró Rivera Architects conceived a 2,500-square-foot guesthouse of a residence on Lake Austin in Texas. Above: The first-floor plan. (April 2007)

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A 10,000-square-foot glass, steel and stone residence designed by architect Stephen Bucchieri harmonizes with its rugged setting north of Santa Fe. Above: The floor plan. Pueblo houses in the region, which “emphasize a linear arrangement of rooms,” he explains, were an influence. The house is centered around the gallery, which forms a passageway connecting the main living areas. (October 2006)

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A courtyard enclosed by a continuous glass wall is a central feature in a La Jolla, California, couple’s house by architectural designer Wallace E. Cunningham . “The sweep of the ceiling and the copper roof creates the appearance of a nimbus and shelters the living space without confinement,” he says. Above: The floor plan. (October 2006)

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Architect Peter Bohlin , who designed Dennis and Vicki Farrar’s L-shaped house in Park City, Utah, says that “the very best architecture comes out of the right combination of the intellectual and the intuitive.” Above: The second-floor plan. Crisscrossing structures meet at the public living spaces. (October 2006)

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On a wooded ridge in Napa Valley is a house by San Francisco architect Jim Jennings . “The roofs were designed to be strong horizontal planes, with interior volumes being formed by stepping floor levels that follow the slope of the ground,” he says. Cantilevered aluminum louvers shade the west terrace (inset), where a fireplace and built-in grill permit year-round entertaining. Above: Two parallel wings connected by the entrance hall are seen in the plan. (May 2005)

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Crisp minimalism characterizes a Tennessee residence designed by Hugh Newell Jacobsen. Abstracting local farmhouse styles, the architect united seven stark, gabled pavilions on a gentle slope in Nashville. “At first people thought it was a church,” he said with a laugh. Above: The floor plan reveals the way in which the pavilions interconnect. (May 2005)