Creative Direction The arrowhead-shaped corner at the end of the living room evolved from the need to accommodate a standard sliding-glass-door module. “It would have been astronomically expensive to custom-build it,” says Chris Bardt. This architectural gesture— the arrow “points” toward the river—“enabled us to be very generous with the view area without having to extend the entire house.”

Rue Vignon's floor plan.

In 2006, Claus—director of Claus en Kaan Architecten, one of the Netherlands’ top architectural practices—finally got inside Perret’s apartment. He was duly impressed. “It’s the sheer abundance with which limited materials are used here that first struck me,” he says. “The wall-to-wall French oak paneling, combined with materials that were ahead of their time—columns made not from marble but from stone-blasted concrete, the extraordinary round plaster ceiling inset, and the fiber-wood paneling—and his attention to the tiniest of details.” He tracked down the organization that owns the apartment, the Association Auguste Perret, to see if he and his wife could rent the unit as a pied-à-terre. To his surprise, they said yes. In the dining room, a marble-topped table by Eero Saarinen is ringed with Eames wire chairs. Through oak accordion doors, the atrium beckons with red Utrecht armchairs by Gerrit Rietveld and a yellow Diana table by Konstantin Grcic.

A common space features Hee Welling’s About a Chair 12 for Hay and a Stick round table by Valsecchi 1918.

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Author and French designer Daniel Rozensztroch's industrial loft was a 17th-century manufacturing plant in the Marais, a historic district that abuts the Bastille. A row of vintage iron cabinets, mostly recovered from doctors’ and dentists’ offices, separate the kitchen from the dining area. The Gervasoni table was designed by close friend Paola Navone. Architect Dominique Perrault and designer Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost are responsible for the the tubular pendants over the dining table, which resemble old subway lamps.

Architect Damien Brambilla turned a run-down Paris apartment building into an open, bright adolescent group home with a landscaped garden.

Resident Ty Milford peruses a book by the George Nelson–inspired built-ins fabricated by Big Branch Woodworking

Visiting a Manhattan apartment designed by Tim Seggerman is like sitting inside one of Nakashima’s cabinets, a metaphor realized most fully in an ingenious "library"—really a glorified cubby with a banded maple ceiling, conjured from a free space adjacent to the loft bed.

In the bedroom, a 1930s painting by French artist Louis Parrens hangs above a vintage nightstand with a Lampe Gras light, designed in 1921 by Bernard-Albin Gras. The bed is dressed with Merci linens.

The home abuts a river, where the residents enjoy kayaking and swimming in warmer months. This geographic blessing partially inspired the wave-like backsplash. Each tile was hand-cut and individually placed by artisans from New Ravenna.

The house’s Japanese inspiration manifests in many ways, including beams that extend outwards over the front door. Floor-to-ceiling windows around the entrance and continuous indoor-outdoor epoxy-pebble flooring blur the barrier between the interior and exterior.

Brambilla used part of the $2.9 million budget to acquire pieces from Hay, including Hee barstools by Hee Welling that are lined up by a long bar in a common area.

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When not in use during winter, the tub is hidden from the home’s view. The entrance has a sheltered overhang for car parking.

Brambilla designed and crafted the built-in bookcase in a common area from laminated red birch.

Bowie and Malboeuf’s unit occupies three levels facing the property’s backyard. The living-dining room has a mix of vintage pieces—a Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer and an LC4 chaise by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand—alongside furniture from CB2.

The Lais designed their house to be theirs forever. As such, they were able to make design moves that made sense for themselves but that wouldn't have high resale value, like the Japanese-style master bathroom in the middle of the second floor instead of off of the master bedroom. The traditional setup features bath stools from Muji for washing off.

Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Villa Savoye, Poissy. 1928-31. Model, 1932. Wood, aluminum, and plastic. 16 x 34 x 32” (40.6 x 86.4 x 81.3 cm). Model maker: Theodore Conrad. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / FLC

Le Corbusier raised Villa Savoye on pilotis (stilts) to provide “distant views of the horizon.” Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret). (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Villa Savoye, Poissy. 1928–31. Photograph. 2012. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC. Photo © Richard Pare

An early work on paper by Le Corbusier shows his fascination with landscapes. (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret). (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Blue mountains. 1910. Pencil, watercolor, black ink on paper. 6 3/8 x 7 11/16” (16.2 x 19.5 cm) Foundation Le Corbusier, Paris. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / FLC

Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret). (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Assembly, Chandigarh. 1961-64. Model of the roof structure, 1964. Plaster and painted wood. 31 7/8 x 45 1/16 x 45 1/2 (81 x 114.5 x 115.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art. Gift of Barbara Jakobson and the Architecture & Design Purchase Fund, 2010. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC

Le Corbusier conceived his urban plan for Rio de Janiero while viewing the city during a plane ride. 1929. Aerial perspective with Guanabara Bay, the center and the beaches. (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Charcoal and pastel on paper. 29 15/16 x 31 11/16” (76 x 80.5 cm). Foundation Le Corbusier, Paris. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC

Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Palace of the League of Nations, Geneva. 1927. Axonometric view from the west. Gelatin print on paper with ink, airbrush and collage additions. 53 3/8” x 57 7/8” (135.5 x 147 cm). Institut fur Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur, ETH Zurich

Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) was a leader in Purism, a movement toward clear forms indicative of the modern age. (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Nature morte (Still life). 1920. Oil on canvas. 31 7/8 x 39 1/4” (80.9 x 99.7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Van Gogh Purchase Fund, 1937. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / FLC

Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret). (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Chapelle Notre-Dame du Haut, Ronchamp. 1950–55. Photograph. 2012. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC. Photo © Richard Pare

Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Palace of the Soviets, Moscow. 1931-32. Model, 1932. Wood, paint, metal, plastic, and glass. 14 x 33 1/2 x 67” (35.6 x 85.1 x 170.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Special Purchase Fund, 1941. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris / FLC

The home Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) built for his parents and his first work as an independent architect. (French, born Switzerland. 1887-1965). Villa Jeanneret-Perret, La Chaux-de-Fonds. 1912. Photograph. 2012. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC. Photo © Richard Pare

Le Corbusier's palette—hues he supposedly considered “eminently architectural,” designed to pair well with white walls and raw wood—comes at a price: from $2 to $5 per square foot. If you can't pick just one, and would rather fetishize and fondle the whole collection, pick up the 174-page book Le Corbusier Polychromie Architecturale. It's selling on Amazon for $400.

Glass Houses Though the original plans called for a frameless wall of glass in the back, it turned out that it would eat up most of the budget. Instead, they installed three wood-framed windows made by Fecon. fecon.de Cut and Plant For the landscaping, the couple literally took a page out of somebody else’s book. Winterhalder says their garden was lifted from page 38 of Peter Janke’s Kleine Gärten (Small Gardens), published by Becker Joest Volk Verlag. bjvv.de

Escape made a splash by launching a property in Tampa Bay filled with its trailers. But you don’t have to live there to own one.

“I love the house more each day,” says Tamami Sylvester of her and husband Michael's home by Sebastian Mariscal in Venice, California. The kitchen, which includes all Miele appliances, is sheathed in custom woodwork from Semihandmade. Accessories from A+R complement the Caesarstone countertops and Franke faucet. A LifeSource Water System provides filtration. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Six-inch-square blue tiles cover the walls and floor of the girls’ upstairs bathroom. The towels and rug are also by H&M Home.

"How would a kid draw a house?" architect Per Franson asked himself when designing the Olivero-Reinius family home. The simple prefab structure’s unusual color comes from a traditional source: falu rödfärg, the historic mineral paint that gives the region’s famous barns their red color.

The second Jean Nouvel-inspired staircase lives outside, clinging to the side of the house and leading up to the roof deck, where there's a hot tub shaded by sun sails.

Architect Gustavo Costa calls the home library the “project’s heart.” This central space houses the owner’s expansive collection of about 5,000 books, and acts as a meeting place for friends and colleagues. A Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Red and Blue chair completes the space.