Architectural Record's annual Interiors issue is a favorite among readers both inside the profession and out. Who doesn't enjoy ogling photographs of a room's rich finishes and furnishings, such as those on display in the pages ahead? Yet frankly, even we acknowledge it's a little weird to consider interiors apart from “architecture.” Clients often divide duties between architect and interior designer, but the essential values should be no different: the artful creation of space and deployment of light; the careful designation of materials and details. Eero Saarinen, who designed chairs, master plans, and buildings of every scale in between, said he learned this lesson from his father: “Eliel Saarinen saw architecture as everything from city planning to the ashtray on a living-room table.” OK, no one designs ashtrays these days, but we still appreciate the point.

Architects who are invited to build within existing structures—who are handed raw space they did nothing to shape—face particular challenges. Vincent James, whose Minneapolis office, VJAA, was recently honored as the AIA's Firm of the Year, used an array of spatial moves to turn a vast 5,500-square-foot glass-enclosed penthouse into an art-filled home, employing wood in creative ways to instill a sense of warmth. On the street level of a new Tokyo tower, interior designer Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall incorporated the window wall, as required by the developer, in creating a chocolate shop, but diverted attention upward with a deliciously witty ceiling, carved out of wood to look like a giant chocolate bar.