This year’s winning houses all have powerful stories to tell, from the discovery of the perfect site to unexpected challenges of construction to the transformation of design ideas into habitable space.

A small dwelling in France is expanded and reinvented in a masterful response to strict regulations on a prized site.

Classical Japanese architectural motifs enhance a surprising enclave in Tokyo.

A flat roof planted with grass defines a long house and its indoor-outdoor spaces in Brazil.

A strong craft tradition defines a forested weekend getaway in New York.

A refuge of clustered structures in Mexico merges with its untamed landscape.

A mountain retreat in California touches the ground lightly and offers breathtaking views.

When selecting each year's group of Record Houses, we value the experimental, the imaginative, and the unexpected, along with a strong sense of craft, exploration of materials, and skillful manipulation of spaces.

A stringently rectilinear house on a narrow site offers a sweeping view of Seattle and the city's harbor.

A suburban house just west of Paris's Bois de Boulogne integrates industrial and organic themes.