Gwathmey Siegel Architects: Pacific Palisades Residence, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California --
Mark Mack: Stremmel House, Reno, Nevada --
Hariri & Hariri: Barry's Bay Cottage, Ontario, Canada --
Donald McKay: Park Road House, Toronto, Ontario, Canada --
Fernau Hartman Architects: Collective Housing, Mendocino, California --
Carlos Zapata: Landes House, Golden Beach, Florida --
RoTo Architects: Teiger House, Somerset County, New Jersey --
Clark & Menefee Architects: Croffead House, Charleston, South Carolina --
Scogim Elam Bray Architects: Mountain House, Dillard, Georgia --
Franklin D. Israel, Israel Callas Shortridge Associates: Dan House, Malibu, California --
Antoine Predock Architect: White Residence, Pinnacle Peak, Arizona --
UKZ Design: Knee Residence, North Caldwell, New Jersey --
Eric Owen Moss Architects: Lawson / Westen House, Los Angeles, California --
Richard Meier & partners, Architects: Grotta House, Harding Township, New Jersey --
Morphosis: Blades residence, Santa Barbara, California --
Machado and Silvetti Associates: Concord House, Concord, Massachusetts --
Koning Eizenberg Architecture: 31 st. Street House, Santa Monica, California --
Koning Eizenberg Architecture: Tarzana House, Tarzana, California --
Stamberg Aferiat Architecture: Hoffman House Expansion and Renovation, East Hampton, New York --
The Stanley Saitowitz Office: Seadrift Lagoon House, Stinson Beach, California --
Arquitectonica International: Casa Los Andes, Lima, Perú --
Steven Holl Architects: Berkowitz-Odgis House, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts --
Steven Holl Architects: Makuhari Housing, Chiba, Japan --
John Lautner Architect: Goldstein residence, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California --

The private home is perhaps the most fundamental and indispensible ingredient of the constantly evolving American dream. How does today's American architect mediate the often opposing ideals of pragmatism and individuality that shape the American house? This richly illustrated volume offers sharp insight into such questions, showcasing some of the most extraordinary examples of residential architecture designed in America during the last fifteen years. The twenty-four houses in this volume share a common point of origin: all draw upon the established principles of American Modernism. At the same time, they differ markedly from one another and in so doing demonstrate the diversity implicit in that style. At one end of the spectrum are the cerebral, unviolated sculptural forms of Richard Meier's Grotta House; at the other end is the rugged expressionism of Eric Owen Moss's Lawson/ Westen House. The collection represents established American architects, such as Meier and Charles Gwathmey; such internationally known contemporaries as Stephen Holl, Mark Mack, and Arquitectonica; and newcomers Carlos Zapata and UKZ. Superb exterior and interior photographs, as well as plans of each house, are accompanied by individual essays and captions. An introductory essay summarizes the vastly divergent impulses that define American residential architecture in the last decade: at once Modern and yet attentive to tradition, dynamic and yet controlled, bold and, above all, keenly devoted to the individual.