Like an introverted person, the House of Trough, designed by architect Jun Igarashi in the Kato-gun district of the Hokkaido prefecture in northern Japan, focuses inward.

Some minimalist architects boast that given enough money, they can make their architecture almost disappear.

Architect Robert Gurney and his client, a young entrepreneur with a large family, shocked the residents of the Edgemoor section of Bethesda, Maryland, with the house they created. It was not because of the design's Modernist roots, although the house is decidedly unlike the Colonial- and Craftsman-style ones nearby. The surprise comes from its size.

According to architect Jacopo Mascheroni, people from the village of Brusino Arsizio, Switzerland (population 475), have been trying to get a glimpse of the house he designed for Nicoletta Messina, a financial consultant, and her family.

“I’m happy with my wife,” says Dutch architect Wiel Arets, “because we are comfortable together and yet she still challenges me.

With Chile’s capital, Santiago, a two-hour drive away, and the vibrant seaport city of Valparaiso just down the coast, the onetime shipping village of Zapallar has become a chic resort destination.

The Northern Liberties neighborhood, just north of Center City in Philadelphia, used to be a decrepit Rust Belt remnant, but it now attracts the artist crowd.

The ubiquitous “Keep Austin Weird” movement seems more defined by what it’s against — big-box stores, Mediterranean-style buildings, Hummers — than what it’s for.