The kitchen is beautifully textured and veined thanks to white Carrara marble countertops installed by New Marble Company and reclaimed cypress cabinets built by Wayne Berger.

Floors are sealed and waxed concrete. The 4,200-square-foot home is clad in stained local tongue-in-groove cypress.

The house that Kem Studio designed for Sarah Magill on a narrow lot in Kansas City has a steel facade with reclaimed cypress cladding near the entrance. The entire structure sits atop a steel foundation set on concrete piers that were driven into solid stone.

Brogan’s home overlooking Lake Michigan is clad in tongue-and-groove new-growth cypress. Vertical basswood slats follow the stairs to the second floor and into the master bedroom, extending outside to serve as the railing for a small balcony.

Shah, Suttles, and their daughter, Tesla, use their outdoor space as an extra room. Near the pool is a seating area with Bistro chairs from Fermob.

A massive slab of cypress perched atop sawhorses provides storage for pots and utensils.

Underneath the raised pavilion, the architect carved out an updated version of the classic Southern veranda. This one sports a minimalist outdoor kitchen and all-white accents with a cypress ceiling.

Native New Yorkers, the Merola family have long held a tradition of spending summers in Rhode Island. When they learned the costs of renovating their existing cottage would significantly outweigh the benefits, they instead opted to build new. The result—a distinctively modernist box structure clad in milled slats of charred, brushed, and oiled cypress manufactured by Delta Millworks—sits nestled within the marshy landscape of Quonochontaug Pond.

The cypresses beyond the ipe fence afford the family privacy.

The sliding wood and glass panel alludes to traditional Japanese shoji screens—sliding partitions constructed of wood and translucent paper. For the house’s wooden construction, co-design studio used Japanese cedar, sugi, and Japanese cypress, hinoki, both local to the larger Saitama prefecture.

Charred cypress siding by ReSwan Timber Co.

The addition, which has cypress paneling and a metal roof, is united with the renovated 1920s bungalow via a glass pavilion.

The cabin is perched by the edge of a bluff in the homeowner’s steep, half-acre yard, set some 300 feet above sea level, with cypress trees all around.

The exterior is constructed from cypress pine wood and lightweight polycarbonate.

A 24-foot sliding glass door system leads out onto the balcony from the great room. Cypress wraps the ceiling and floor above. Beck says, "In designing this project, we strove for simplicity. Cost efficiencies were obtained by exposing the structure where possible, taking advantage of locally sourced products, and choosing relatively simple finishes." For the floor, a local concrete company ground and polished the elevated slabs to create the finished floors and exterior staircases.

Stanaćev and Granados not only thought about views from the cabin, they also considered views of the cabin. With that in mind, they designed a green roof planted with creeping redflush that harmonizes with surrounding cypress forest.

Located off the great room, this exterior porch—subtracted from the main volume and therefore protected from bad weather—is also clad in locally milled cypress. "We chose cypress because of its history as a chief building material in the region’s earliest structures," explains Beck. "It contains a natural oil called cypressene, which deters insects and resists mold and mildew, making it an ideal wood for Florida’s hot, humid climate."

Concrete walls provide privacy in the main bathroom, where the Holtzes installed a deep hinoki cypress soaking tub.

Most beachfront houses treat the ocean as part of the visual landscape with panoramic views and wraparound balconies. Tom Lloyd-Butler’s beach house by Ernest Born, however, is deeply interior, and far more interested in its tranquil inner courtyard than anything beyond. One transparent addition later, the avid surfer has a new outlook. Aidlin Darling took pains during construction to preserve the cypress trees that give the Great Highway House so much of its charm.

In consultation with the clients, Alterstudio opted to clad the house in local cypress rather than imported, FSC-certified ipe.

The guest room doubles as a home office. Here, too, are cypress built-ins framing glass panels that look out onto the sea. The architects call them "St. Jerome boxes," which is inspired by the classic image of St. Jerome at his desk, lost in thought, with the landscape framed in a picture window beside him.

Burnt cedar, Japanese cypress plywood, and mortar create a trio of contrasting yet simple surface textures that breathe a relaxed vibe into the Muji Hut.

Dolce sits at the dining-room table in front of the elegantly slatted cypress divider, which separates the living space from the new staircase.

The Baumann family residence in Gowanus, Brooklyn, is all geometry up front, with a rectilinear grid of steel and cypress comprising the structure’s double facade.

The bathtub is a simple box made of fragrant hinoki cypress. Its shape echoes one of Cho’s favorite inspirations: a wooden apple crate.

The Burkes eliminated glare by minimizing the number of windows on the east and west sides of their house. On the south, though, windows are taller and offer views of trees even though the house is in the heart of downtown Charlottesville. The direct light that enters through the flanks of the house is mediated via a sophisticated array of blinds, tints, a trellis calibrated to cut light from April through August, and several bald cypress trees that provide shade in summer but lose their leaves in winter, allowing light (and heat) to infuse the house. Baby cypress trees, about nine feet tall, should cost around $100 each at your local nursery.

The outside deck can sit about 150 guests, while the grounds that end at the river can fit up to 200, Alexander said. The deck was built with cypress wood and the outdoor furniture was crafted by Peter White, a cousin of one of the owners.

"The brief was to efficiently and cost effectively transform a light-starved weatherboard into an open and modern home with a good connection to the rear garden and a relaxed yet refined feel," says the firm. The owner charred and oiled the shiplapped cypress siding himself.

The cabin is lined in cypress.

Using natural materials is one way of bringing nature indoors. Oiled white ash floors and ceilings, along with Italian poplar and Lawson cypress joinery, are found throughout architect Andrew Simpson’s 538-square-foot home outside Wellington, New Zealand.

Carpenter describes the FSC-certified cypress structure as part sculpture, part architecture, and part landscape.

As elsewhere, the floors are concrete and the casework is crafted of reclaimed sinker cypress.

The exterior is clad in 100-year-old cypress meticulously crafted for the home by former shipbuilder George Velmachos of Wright and Company. Courtesy Architects and Artisans.

The kitchen cabinets are custom-made from salvaged cypress.

Reclaimed and recycled cypress beams measure 16 inches tall, six inches wide and are 36 feet long. Courtesy Architects and Artisans.

The enclosed screen porch is enveloped in locally sourced cypress.