Critic and historian Mercedes Daguerre presents 20 innovative houses by 20 leading contemporary architects and explores how domestic architecture has responded to the changing nature of family life. Featured architects include established stars such as Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Tadao Ando of Japan and Glenn Murcutt of Australia as well as a number of emerging practices. Case study houses are drawn from all over the world and span a diverse range of geographical settings from inner city Manhattan to the sand dunes of Victoria in Australia.

Critic and historian Mercedes Daguerre explores Latin America's evolving modernist tradition through the one-family houses of the region's leading contemporary architects. The book demonstrates the architects' diverse and rich interpretation of modernist principles through case studies of 19 homes built in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, and Argentina. Architects featured include Paulo Mendes da Rocha, winner of the 2006 Pritzker Architecture Prize.