![Atrium House](https://gbdtest.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Burns_0060.jpg)
Atrium House
With city requirements for rear yards, homes with courtyards are rare in New York, but this home was exempt due to its previous life as a garage. MESH Architectures extracted an interior volume and stacked it on top of the building to create a spacious, window-filled great room.
![Node](https://gbdtest.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/1_-img_0044_r2-150x184.jpg)
Node
The best ideas seem like no-brainers. Node, which is Cradle to Cradle certified, falls into that category. How it took until 2013 for someone to design a school desk that is easily reconfigured for lectures, small groups, or full class discussion is a mystery.
![MagicPlan app](https://gbdtest.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ipadaptureeng-150x112.jpg)
MagicPlan app
Need a floor plan fast? MagicPlan, from Sensopia, is a brilliant app, available for free for iPad, iPhone, or Android, that makes it easy to create a floor plan of any space. Snap a few photos, add in the furniture, piece the rooms togther, and you’ve got a working floor plan without the time or expense of a blueprint.
![Life Edited. Photo: Matthew Williams](https://gbdtest.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/0006277.jpg)
Life Edited. Photo: Matthew Williams
It’s either a design consultancy specializing in downsizing or a downsizing consultancy specializing in design. Either way, TreeHugger founder Graham Hill fit 1,000 square feet of space into 420 and wants to help architects and developers do the same.
![Building Bytes](https://gbdtest.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/building_bytes0_honeycomb3-150x106.jpg)
Building Bytes
Space is malleable with these 3-D printed bricks, designed by Brian Peters of Design Lab Workshop. Representing a new way to create an age-old building material, Building Bytes are most importantly customizable and can be engineered for any project.