OK, maybe I’m going a little overboard with this faux thing, as I realize I just wrote about faux florals a couple weeks ago. But I was doing some catch-up reading of last month’s Metropolitan Home this morning when I saw this gorgeous Hollywood Hills home with the most pristine postage stamp of lawn separating the terrace from the infinity pool and the city down below.

Photographs by John Ellis

It’s fake!! I thought artificial turf existed only in football stadiums and on putt-putt golf courses. Not only is this lawn beautiful, but think about it: no mowing, no watering, and no pets turning it brown when they do their business.

The article quotes outdoor designer Tory Polone, who used SYNLawn – “the most realistic imitation she could find. ‘The homeowners have three dogs, so this was our only hope for keeping it green and lovely,’ Polone says.”

Here are some other residential projects from SYNLawn.

I adore my artificial Christmas tree, which is pre-lit and looks much more dazzling than I could do with the real thing, and I don’t have to water it, and I don’t have to vacuum fallen pine needles every day. I wonder what my husband would think if I asked for fake grass, too? (“Dear Jim,” my editor, Trish Donnally, writes in reply. “Just say NO!”)

It was so exciting to see the piece in Sunday’s Washington Post about modern architecture in DC, which includes profiles on the work of Simon Jacobsen and Travis Price. It’s great to see other publications celebrating DC’s modernist gems.

Our current issue’s Best of Remodeling competition awarded Simon Jacobsen for  “Washed in White," a breathtakingly spacious, light-filled, and thoroughly modern interior.

Remodel by Simon Jacobsen

In 2006, we showcased his work on a Watergate condo, where he reorganized the awkward floor plan to create a clean and streamlined space.

Watergate condo design by Simon Jacobsen

In 2005, we examined the very house where Simon spent his childhood, which was designed by his father, architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen.

Home of Hugh Newell Jacobsen

In fall 2006, we recognized the creative breadth of Travis Price, whose projects included a space that he “psychologically doubled” in size using glass and natural light.

A renovation by Travis Price

Washington Spaces always has its eye on modernism, noting local standouts such as the cool, colorful Arlington home of Jack and Cathy Gerstein,

… and the minimal-but-tactile Maryland Apartment of Irene and Alfred Roth.

Now that it’s the summer tourist season, it’s timely to note the city’s major monuments, even for us natives. That’s where a gorgeous book that came out earlier this year can make your visits even more interesting: The Italian Legacy in Washington, D.C.: Architecture, Design, Art and Culture, edited by Luca Molinari and Andrea Canepari (Rizzoli International, $70).

Consider:

• The dome of Rome’s Pantheon can be seen in many incarnations at the U.S. Capitol, the Jefferson Memorial, the National Gallery of Art and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.
  
• An Italian sculptor and his five brothers carved the statue of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial.
• The interior of the Capitol Rotunda (the famous “Apotheosis of George Washington,” which graces the book’s cover) and the Capitol’s many corridors and offices showcase the ornate paintings of the Italian-American Constantino Brumidi.
• The iconic curves of the Watergate Complex were designed by Italian architect Luigi Moretti.
  
  

I’m ashamed to admit it: I had never heard of architect Jean Nouvel before I went to hear him speak at the National Building Museum on Tuesday, one day after he was awarded architecture’s most prestigious prize, the Pritzker Prize, at the Library of Congress. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I am a fan of old architecture, the stories it tells, its position as a witness to history, its representation of the era that produced it. However, all of my preconceived notions about modern architecture were shattered like beams of light refracting through the mesh-like roof of Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi. His breathtaking work is symbolic, resonant, and at least as vocal as anything that came before it.

above: Arab World Institute, Paris

Alarm bells sounded in my head on Sunday afternoon – and no, it had nothing to do with the realization that my glorious mini-vacation was coming to an end. I had just spotted an article in the New York Times describing the plight of a modest little house in Connecticut with a design pedigree that belies its size. Designed by Philip Johnson, "the most celebrated architect of the last half-century," according to the Times’ Andy Newman, the house has been languishing on the market for a year at $3.1 million. Its owner, reluctant to lower the price, is now considering tearing it down, much to the horror of mid-century architecture enthusiasts.

The DC area is home to many modern residences with similar historical and artistic significance. Could such a thing happen in our neck of the woods? My fears were assuaged by Mike Shapiro, the mid-century modern maven behind Modern Capital, an excellent blog that focuses on residential modernism in the DC area. Shapiro’s blog attempts to dispel the “false perception” that the DC area has virtually no modern homes or communities. His site has seen a rise in traffic to nearly 5,000 visits per month after two years, which indicates the presence of a “growing niche” of people who love modernism, he says. Keep reading for a list of his favorite mid-century modern communities.