A young family, on a limited budget, requested a contemporary design for their house in a suburban neighborhood in northern Spain.

A couple with two children wanted to build a vacation house in Girardot, Colombia, a popular tourist spot three hours southwest of Bogotá.

Architect Pitsou Kedem designed a single-family residence north of Tel Aviv in the affluent town of Kfar Shmaryahu, located near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Site Size: 840 square feet Project Size: 4,000 square feet Program: The clients desired a live-work space for their five-story, single-family townhouse in Hanoi, Vietnam. Each floor has a specific function: the ground level is for parking, the second level is an office, the third level has living and dining areas, and the fourth and fifth floors are devoted to bedrooms. To maximize privacy, the office has a separate entrance and staircase. Solution: The building, made of cast-in-place reinforced concrete, is edged with recessed terraces clad in operable wood screens for privacy and added security. Behind the screens, operable glass

On the Cycladic island of Syros, a stone house is set into a steep hillside overlooking the Aegean Sea.

Site Size: 7 acres Project Size: 5,000 square feet Program: The client desired a cottage that could be used as either a quiet winter hideaway or a summer holiday home for a large extended family. Located on the Atlantic coastline, the house is exposed to extreme weather and a corrosive environment. The client wanted to take advantage of the views but provide some protection from the rain and wind. Solution: The architects divided the house into four rectilinear volumes organized around a courtyard, which serves as the main entrance. Much like the modest local farmhouses in the area, the 28-inch-thick

Site Size: 17,000 acres Project Size: 2,800 square feet Program: The Cookhouse is the latest project in an ongoing renovation of an abandoned homestead in rural Montana. Over the last 15 years, the clients have renovated and expanded a number of structures for a working ranch and family vacation compound. The 2,800-square-foot Cookhouse is meant to be the hub of ranch activity; its kitchen and living areas are large enough to accommodate extended family dinners and community gatherings.   The architects were charged with designing a structure that would complement—but not overwhelm—the neighboring buildings. The severe climate in south-central Montana

Architect Carl Turner conceived his combined home and studio, completed in September 2012, as a prototype for infill housing since the house occupies one of four vacant lots in a brownfield site in south London.

The compact site, located along on a narrow, one-lane street, is situated in a relatively verdant residential district in Tokyo in a neighborhood that contains a mixture of detached houses and low-rise condominiums.

The clients desired as much light and sense of openness as possible in a tight site.