"If the house is the Kips Bay show house, I think it makes a substantial difference, " he said.

WSJ: Designer Show Houses: An Open House��For 10,000 People

The winning proposal will form the basis for a mixed-income rental building in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan consisting of micro-units.

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Take the 20-plus-room neo-Federal brick mansion on Park Avenue that Kips Bay featured this year, owned by real estate developer Sherman Cohen and his wife, Gloria.

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"It's very exciting for the designers to do it because people do come and see their work, get to know them, " said Bunny Williams, an interior designer and chairwoman of this year's Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York City, considered one of the nation's oldest and most popular show homes.

WSJ: Designer Show Houses: An Open House��For 10,000 People