Dwell July-August 2013

This marks the 12th year that Dwell has produced the issue we lovingly refer to in office shorthand as “Mod Across America.” Though we’re always on the prowl for modern design in all pockets of the world, the editors rejoice when we find an inspiring home in the USA that’s of the beaten track. Throughout the year, we save special projects from across the country that express individualism and the daring that comes with building modern in an unexpected place. In the pages that follow, you’ll find the house of an Alaskan musher (and four-time winner of the Iditarod) nestled in the shadow of Mount McKinley; an expansive home in Wisconsin for a doctor and his prodigious assemblage of modern furnishings (not to mention a rooftop observatory!); a Tribeca loft…

We transformed the look of our Letters page so we could share more comments from our followers and fans on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! As an underground-architecture lover, I found the Texas “bunker” home story interesting and unusual (“Living Edge,” April 2013). Loved the images and the mention that critters and wildlife view the rooftops as part of their habitat. —Annika Lundkvist, posted on Facebook As I was reading “Living Edge” (April 2013) and looking at the pictures, I kept thinking: Although the house seems nice enough, it seems practicality wasn’t very high on the designer’s priority list! Does it rain in Houston? Does it get cold there at night? If the answer to either is “yes,” why would he require the homeowners to walk outside to move between…

“Lean Machine” from April 2013: My future vacation home when I hit “empty nester” status. Jenny Vlahos Posted on Facebook I’ve got a small plot in West Virginia with an old hunting cabin on it. There’s no running water on the property, and I would love to build something like the Hald Strand Summerhouse (“Lean Machine,” April 2013) there one day. Yianno Kyriakides Posted on Facebook I remember when Maya Lin (In the Modern World, April 2013) received the Vietnam Memorial award and how thrilling the news was. But even more thrilling was walking down the green park, from the end opposite the entrance, and first perceiving this little “tail” curving through the grass—and then following it to its emergence as a great wall. I am 90 years old and…

Kelly Vencill Sanchez “Living with my children and my parents has never been on my to-do list, exactly,” says writer Kelly Vencill Sanchez, “but the house that brothers Soheil and Nima Nakhshab designed for their family in San Diego (“It’s a Family Affair,” p. 142) elevates multigenerational living to an entirely different level. It hums with life and energy.” Sanchez has written about design, architecture, people, and places for such publications as Architectural Digest and New Mexico Magazine. Kamil Bialous “I like to focus my photography on telling stories about people and places by showing details, sincere characters, and clever scenes,” says Vancouver-based photographer Kamil Bialous. He traveled to Alaska to shoot the residence of four-time Iditarod winner Martin Buser and his wife, Kathryn Chapoton (“View Masters,” p. 106). “Kathy…

A trio of design studios forms a distinctly American picture of modern design: Despite their regional differences, all three produce forward-thinking products and furniture made using time-tested craft and fabrication methods. When Michael James Moran begins a new piece of furniture in his Charleston, South Carolina, wood shop and studio, he often begins with one plank that he imbues with a singular purpose: One board must be a cabinet, another a coffee table. “I try to take what already exists in the wood’s inherent beauty and make it into a functional piece,” he says. This intuitive, organic process yields furniture that pays homage to its arboreal origins, rather than obscuring them. With the help of his partner, Celia Gibson, Moran’s approach has earned him a rapidly expanding group of clients:…

In South Carolina’s Lowcountry, a contemporary house soars amid the oaks and alligators. Project: House Near Beaufort Architect: James Choate, choatehouses.com Location: Sheldon, South Carolina The property was a standout. Edged by marsh and pond, ringed by tall oaks, in a 5,000-acre nature preserve halfway between Savannah and Charleston, it looked almost prehistoric—“you’d half expect a brontosaurus to walk past,” says architect James Choate, of the Atlanta firm Surber Barber Choate & Hertlein Architects. The client, a real estate executive, wanted a home that would honor the views. Choate responded with a remarkably transparent 2,900-square-foot structure that’s “more loft than house,” as he puts it. There’s a single bedroom, tucked away in a mezzanine cantilevered over the kitchen; the rest of the building is an open-plan room, with 20-foot-high floor-to-ceiling windows…