The Globe and Mail

Though their late 20th-century heyday is past, museums are still in vogue with the public at large. And new skyscrapers continue to make headlines. But if there is one thing that distinguishes popular architectural culture in these early years of the new century, it's got to be the craze for houses. Visit any big-town, big-box bookstore, and you will find shelves sagging with books and magazines showcasing fabulous mansions, chic bachelor pads, prefab cabins, new homes in laneways, in the desert, in the woods — houses of every size and type. Some are actually built and others are pulled directly from the architect's computer screen to the glossy printed page.