In Japan, a country that worships hot water, many people begin their day with a sip of green tea and end it with a soak in a deep tub.

Secrecy and privacy. Hiding in plain sight. These are themes Mike Mora of Heliotrope Architects toyed with while drawing up the designs for this Portage Bay residence, a 2,500-square-foot home for a bachelor that replaced an existing structure.

Principals of 15-year-old Intexure Architects, the husband-and-wife team of Russell and Rame Hruska, had plenty of experience designing high-end residential projects for others.

In one particularly humorous episode, the old television program Candid Camera tried to sell a house that had no toilets. (It was remarkable how many potential buyers didn't notice the defect.)

This master bath breaks the mold of the traditional lavatory: not only is it uniquely integral to the success of its adjacent bedroom, it also contends with challenging site conditions. One would hardly suspect all that is at play here, thanks to a meticulous execution by Chicago-based Studio Dwell Architects.

For the expansion of a 1970s-era kit house on the East End of Long Island in Southampton, New York, architect Paul Masi looked to the structure's muscular prefabricated components for design cues—a choice that ultimately informed the look and feel of the addition’s bold new kitchen, completed last year.

It was a tall order for a petite Upper East Side apartment: the clients—a business executive and an artist—needed to dine, entertain, and relax with their four sons within the duplex's 700-square-foot ground level. 

Madisonhouse, named for the Madison neighborhood of La Quinta, California, where it is located, could also be called “Open House” in terms of its design.