Central to the function and vitality of every home, kitchens and baths are also hubs of creative energy in the latest residential interior design—as shown by our annual picks, each of which bends the “rules” with an ingenious twist of spatial relationships and/or use of materials.

Photo © Peter Bastianelli Kerze

Kew House
Jackson Clements Burrows Architects
Built literally on a tennis court at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac, The Kew House, in Victoria, Australia, is Jackson Clements Burrows Architects' answer to the question of whether a building can heal an artificial scar on the landscape.

Photo courtesy Jackson Clements Burrows Architects

Architects' Houses - Our roundup of residential projects aims to find out what happens when architects become their own clients. We look at four houses on vastly different sites that architects have designed to meet their specific living and working needs.

• Little Ram Island House - Shelter Island, New York - Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
• Salmela House -Duluth, Minnesota - Salmela Architect
• L-Stack House - Fayetteville, Arkansas - Marlon Blackwell Architect
• One Window House - Venice, California - Touraine Richmond Architects

Photo © Benny Chan

Record Houses: Best of 2008
For our 2008 awards program, we looked for built dwellings that not only were aesthetically striking, but also employed innovative strategies for achieving environmental sustainability. Read about and view slide shows of this year’s nine winners.

Includes:

Pictured: VH R-10 gHouse; Photo © Bill Timmerman

In this special Web-exclusive feature, we present intriguing designs for single-family dwellings. Keeping in line with the sustainability theme of our 2008 Record Houses, these unbuilt houses all include “green” features.

Includes:

Pictured: zeroHouse; Image courtesy Specht Harpman

Residential Showcase
Architects who design single- or multifamily housing have been asked to submit examples of their work, and the editors of RECORD have selected the best homes for display in this showcase gallery. Submit your projects now.

Pictured: Cottage in Lake of the Woods; Photo by josgeomar

Visit the Web site of myhouse magazine, which contains detailed profiles—and hundreds of images—of more than two dozen spectacularly designed homes in the Rocky Mountain states, including a Craftsman bungalow in Denver, a dream home (with hydraulic lift) in Salt Lake, and a Montana home with an 800-square-foot curving deck. The site also features design ideas, products, profiles of leading designers, and more.

Pictured: Touched by Tuscany; Photo © Emily Minton-Redfield

Record Houses Past Issues
Now available online a 6 issue collection of Record Houses  spanning 2003-2008.

For more than 50  years, RECORD has presented an annual collection of projects from around the globe that represent exemplary residential  design. Includes the special 50th  anniversary of Record Houses issue from  2005.