
Here at Wallpaper*, our commitment to superlative design has seen a consistent focus on architectural marvels the globe over. Here, we highlight a number of the choice American builds that have graced our hallowed pages in recent years. From private residences to company headquarters, minimalist rural escapes to towering urban piles, there'll be something here for any fan of superior contemporary architecture.
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The winner in the Best New Private House category in the 2015 Wallpaper* Design Awards – revealed in February this year – was this oceanfront house. Punctuated by a central courtyard, Vault House's pure-white block is cut through with arches, vaults and skylights. Designed by Johnston Marklee, special permits allowed the owners to build 6m closer to the surf than any of their neighbours, making the views all the more striking. Though the building looks like cast concrete, it's actually synthetic stucco over a wood frame. With its vaulted underbelly, the house appears to perch lightly on the sand, but it's a lightness secured by massive underground pylons, designed to withstand high waves, wind and erosion.
Photography: Nicholas Alan Cope

This nondescript industrial block in Greenpoint, Brooklyn – featured in W* 188 – was an unlikely choice when it came to relocating a powerful digital enterprise, but Kickstarter did not earn its success by following a rule book. The crowd-funding authority – which last year celebrated its fifth birthday and has racked up $1bn in pledges since its inception – has not only moved its operations away from the hubbub of Manhattan, but has bought its own digs, a rarity in the start-up world. 'It was really raw,' says architect Ole Sondresen, the New York-based Norwegian who oversaw the renovation. 'There were holes in the roof and light tunnels coming down. There were puddles on the floor, pigeons flying around in the dark. It was really dramatic and magical. We wanted to try to keep as much of it as possible.'
Writer: Pei-Ru Keh. Photography: Adam Friedberg

Sondresen set out to repurpose what was salvageable. In addition to preserving the historic elements, such as original lintels, arches and bollards too, and a 74-seat theatre, for screening new film projects, hosting musical performances and staging company presentations.
Writer: Pei-Ru Keh. Photography: Adam Friedberg

The WMS Boathouse on the banks of the once-squalid Chicago River has a profile inspired by motion-picture pioneer Eadweard Muybridge's early films of men rowing. The boathouse was designed by Chicago-based architect Jeanne Gang and her office Studio Gang and featured in the January 2015 issue of Wallpaper*. For the architects, the geometry of oars in motion suggested the building's roofing of alternating M- and inverted V-shaped trusses.
Writer: Jay Pridmore. Photography: Steven Hall

The result is an exterior profile that enlivens a once-abandoned riverfront on a city park site, miles from the waterway's main branch through downtown Chicago. The design encourages human interaction with nature – the staggered clerestories opening to southern sun in the winter and cool breezes in the summer – echoing the sport it houses, 'where each person has to be in tune with other people in the boat', says Gang.
Writer: Jay Pridmore. Photography: Steven Hall

Transforming some 60 acres of former commercial and retail space into a new community in Honolulu, Ward Village (W*195) is the brainchild of US developer Howard Hughes Corporation. The former IBM building, designed by master of Hawaiian modernism Vladimir Ossipoff in 1962, has been turned into an information centre and sales gallery by Woods Bagot architects, retaining its distinctive cast-concrete brise-soleil. New buildings by the likes of Richard Meier & Partners Architects and Vancouver's James Cheng are on the way. The first residential units are scheduled for completion in 2016.
Writers: Sebastian Jordahn, Ellie Stathaki. Photography: Regan Grey