Natural Beauty | Ornamental grasses, lavender and echinacea sway with the breeze in the weathered-steel planter box fronting the work studio of landscape designer Joel Loblaw. The rusted metal’s warm orange, the earthy browns of fading perennials, errant red and gold fallen leaves — the planter is in sync with the season and it looks perfect, perfectly natural.

Truly Eppich | mong jaw-dropping properties, every so often, one defies categorization as a residential home, making the leap to “landmark” instead. Case in point: Eppich House II. With its dazzling expanse of glass walls and revolutionary cascading steel-beam frame, this architectural wonder appears like a mirage high up on a West Vancouver hillside, nestled between mountain and sea, yet invisible from the road. Water elements add to its mystical quality — a shimmering koi pond, fed by a redirected creek, and an infinity-edge poolthat blends into the landscape.

Creating Miami Style - Anywhere | Miami interiors have a look and feel that you just know when you see. The aesthetic takes its cue from the climate and from nature. A pale palette with sleek flooring and finishes tempers the tropical weather, while touches of ocean, sand, and sky—reflected in hues of pastel peach, seafoam blue, and beige—bring the outside in.

Clients come because they crave the water and the warmth, says Jacqueline Gonzalez Touzet, principal of Touzet Studio, an interior design and architecture firm in Miami. “Because our senses are stimulated constantly, it’s key that interiors are a bit calm and serene.”

Paint it Black | Shading your walls in black may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you’re considering paint colors. But black has a daring all its own that can bring character and chicness to your space.

“The result is both unexpected and incredibly sophisticated,” says Andrea Magno, a Benjamin Moore color and design expert.

“Black has an interesting effect on the walls of a room because the corners and shadows are obscured more than if a midtone or pastel color is used,” Magno says. “This can be used as a visual trick to give the space a less-defined appearance and can make a room feel a bit more expansive.”

What’s New in Art, Architecture, and Design | Whether we’re talking trends in art, architecture, or design, it’s all about seeing the beauty of traditional materials used in new ways. It’s looking at ordinary objects in a different light. It’s rethinking the purpose of conventional spaces. But most of all, it’s about being open to possibilities.

Designed to Inspire: Philippe Starck’s Island Home | In the midst of a juniper orchard, a rustic, waterfront property perched on top of a cliff on the Cap de Barbaria—only 60 miles from Africa’s Barbary Coast—is where designer Philippe Starck works and plays a few months out of the year.

The French icon, known for creating avant-garde interiors, furniture, and household items, designed the six-bedroom, six-bathroom villa in Formentera, Spain, in the mid-1990s. Starck has since used the home as an escape, but it’s now listed by Ibiza Sotheby’s International Realty for 7.9 million euros (US$9 million).

Decorating Like a Parisian | There’s a certain chicness about a Parisian home that’s so effortless, even the most haphazardly strewn items seem decidedly curated. It’s that je ne sais quoi that comes second nature to the French.

Designing a quintessentially French space is about elegance, a sense of the spectacular, and creating a warm and cozy atmosphere, says Paris-based interior and furniture designer Aline Hazarian, who works with clients who are leaders in international business and finance, and who is known for her striking and sophisticated interiors.

Karl Lagerfeld’s Parisian Home | On design Lagerfeld says "We are at the heart of a Russian doll: first the clothes, then the apartments and houses. Even the streets and the cities are part of the evolution of our preferences and our taste."

Lighting and shelter are often intertwined, as they evoke the warmth and familiarity of home — the porch light as a welcoming beacon or, perhaps, seen from the street through the windows, a glow hinting at the lively gathering inside.

Evocative as it is, lighting design has been garnering more appreciation recently. “While lighting will always be an essential product in both residential and commercial applications, it’s morphing into a powerhouse category of its own,” says Karen Kang, national director of the Interior Design Show (IDS), which showcases innovative new products and design concepts in Canada and beyond. “Canadian creatives, such as Matthew McCormick, Anony and Guillaume Sasseville, are making a significant impact on the world stage where they’re presenting lighting, not just as a necessary form but [also] re-imagining it with technology, provenance and design that push the boundaries of innovation.”

It happens every time I wind my way up the magical driveway to Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa, in Cambridge, Ontario. I experience equal parts excitement and relief. Or a physical reaction that is the opposite of an adrenaline rush. That, and the anticipation I’m about to enjoy a food experience that rivals those I’ve had in gastro-centres in Paris, London, Rome, Burgundy and San Sebastián.

Adrian Smith, founder of Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, is known for designing unimaginably tall buildings. Along with his record-setting structures in Saudi Arabia, he designed the Central Park Tower, which is now rising and will be New York’s tallest residential tower when completed in 2020. We caught up with Smith, 73, to talk about his designs around the world and what makes them work.

For Alexandra Champalimaud, a hotel is far more than just a place for travellers to rest their heads. To this designer, who has spent the last three decades creating some of the most luxurious hotel interiors in the world, these spaces are reflections of the history, culture and art that surround them as much as the people who inhabit them. Yes, a hotel’s primary purpose is to provide food, lodging and comfort for weary travellers, but they have an altogether grander purpose in this designer’s mind — to provide a sense of place.

Whether a rare feature or unexpected detail, it takes something truly unique to distinguish a home as one-of-a-kind. From an architectural waterfall of steel and glass to a centuries-old hacienda, these six properties are true individuals.

Flying over the southern Pacific coast of Mexico, travellers get a bird’s-eye preview of the topographical contrasts awaiting them at their final destination. A magnificent panorama of rugged mountains dotted with farms and villages gives way to pristine beaches and the jewel-toned waters of the aptly named Emerald Coast.

The moment you enter through the gates of Chelster Hall, a grand home in Oakville, Ont., it feels like you’ve entered a retreat where all stress and worry seem to disappear. Once you’re past the wide front doors, a magnificent chandelier comes into view. Hanging from a domed ceiling some 30 feet above you, it’s in perfect elegant symmetry with the custom oval Persian carpet underfoot. Just ahead of you are vistas of Lake Ontario sparkling in the distance. On a cold winter day, you can see the mist rising from Niagara Falls.

Vertical gardens, which transform plain walls into lush landscapes, are being employed as signature architectural features in interior and exterior spaces. “Luxury clients, especially, perceive them as a differentiator, a status art piece,” says Irina Kim Sang, managing partner of Miami Vertical Garden.

To understand the latest trends in art, architecture, and design, you have to go back to the time when objects were handcrafted, bricks were hand-molded and every element in the house was a work of art. Rediscovered and burnished by a new generation, these old ideals are setting a new style.

For land-scarce metropoli like New York, architectural innovations tend to scale vertically: without a place to spread outwards, development takes to the skies. Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, innovation can be found at sea. A district of water homes located on a string of artificial islands adjacent to the city’s historic canals feels distinctly Dutch: dubbed the WaterWonen project (translates literally to living in water), modern houseboats are moored at a harbor conceived by Danish architecture firm Monteflore (responsible for designing one of the city’s most luxurious hotels). The independently-sailing vessels include homes—like this spacious steel converted cargo ship—that invite guests to come down out of the clouds and enjoy the delights of open water.

There is nowhere quite like the Sapphire Residences – an exquisite collection of apartments and penthouses boasting uninterrupted panoramic views overlooking the Indian Ocean and the Beira Lake. Inspired by the famous Sri Lankan blue jewel, Sapphire Residences has been meticulously designed for those who expect the best things in life.

One of Toronto’s quirkiest homes, the angular blue property at 1 Bond Ave. that made waves in cookie-cutter Don Mills when it was built in the late ’90s, is on the market. The house, along with its fraternal twin property at 3 Bond Ave., drew the chagrin of neighbours when it was built at the turn of the millennium.