When not in use during winter, the tub is hidden from the home’s view. The entrance has a sheltered overhang for car parking.

Seen in the architectural context of its London neighborhood, the house is all the more extraordinary: compact, materially innovative, and easy on the eyes.

Many tiny home dwellers develop eco-friendly habits when they downsize—like adopting a capsule wardrobe, carpooling more, and harvesting rainwater.

“The house is a piece of origami made out of triangular shapes, which we then draped over the landscape,” says Arbel.

“We sought to create a house that would not damage the environment and not be too visible,” says architect Tina Gregorič. A single zigzagging roof stretches over 5,380 square feet, doubling the area of the interior spaces and serving as an ideal spot for sunset cocktails and whale-watching.

The front door dissolves into the facade.

Since surrounding neighbors can overlook the one-story property, Thomson created a roof detail that is environmentally friendly and attractive: “the bio-diverse [green] roof is planted with indigenous species of flowers and grasses,” he says.

The rear facade.

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Architect Sven Matt mixed basic shapes with rich details in this Austrian home. The lattice shell was hewn from silver fir sourced from a nearby forest. Eternit shingles clad the roof.

Gaffney's cousin lives in the house just in front. To give a bit of perspective, this photo was likely taken just feet in front of the waist-high wall that runs between the two houses's yards.

Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton behind their London home.

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 interest of this work lies in its simplicity,” LLaumett says. “The intelligence of the house depends on its placement and the materials that maximize its efficiency.”

It's traditional among homes in the region to enter through their backdoor, seen here. The door leads directly to the living room.

"We felt it was important to create continuity with nature, rather than compete with it," Soranno stated. "The connection with nature is what makes this place special."

The exterior of the Field House, designed by Wendell Burnette Architects in Ellington, Wisconsin.

For the facade, exposed to the constant salt air, the team considered everything from copper or zinc to Kynar-coated aluminum. Eventually, a sample of titanium was tacked up for six months and showed no wear. “Part of the green philosophy is not just what is cheaper; it’s what’s sustainable,” Cranston explains. “The titanium cladding was more expensive, but this is a house we plan to be in for the rest of our lives, so we wanted something that needed virtually no maintenance.”

“Initially the design had the studios completely separated from the main house with a sort of breezeway in between,” says Stern, who ultimately decided to physically connect them in a way that evokes walking through the outdoors. “The studios and breezeway are separated from the main house with pocket doors to create privacy when needed, and allow it to function as a separate guest suite for overnight visitors.”

Thomas and Laura Hyland's house sits adjacent to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. The home maintains the land's natural vegetation and rocky surface. Photo by: Dean Kaufman

Large, dramatic openings bring transparency and contrast to the 10-inch-thick concrete facade, framing perspectival views of the landscape.

Anne Suttles waters the bamboo muhly, palo verde, strawberry tree, and magic carpet thyme thriving in their Austin yard.

Though seemingly whimsical and freewheeling, Sottsass was exacting in his designs: He had forbidden the Olabuenagas from repainting the home’s stucco facade, insisting that they let it “metamorph into what it wants to be,” but the couple ultimately decided to restore its faded colors last fall, using new elastomeric Behr paints that were blended to original specifications.

“We wanted the wood to appear as natural as possible, so leaving the larch untreated was the first choice,” Bas explained. But the shape of the house would make the wood turn gray unevenly, so they blackened the larch. “The clients were excited with the dark color as it helps the house blend into the trees. They didn’t want the anything excessive or showy.” But blackened timber comes with its own challenges. Since it absorbs more heat, a larger air cavity was built behind the wood to keep it cool.

Wood from the property’s felled trees was incorporated into every room in the 3,000-square-foot house.

The 800-square-foot house is among the first shipping container residences in San Diego County, according to Mike. He hopes it will soon by joined by a larger container home on the property, at which point it will become the guesthouse.

Open and inviting, the addition enables a fluid indoor-outdoor connection that didn’t exist before.

“They wanted the new cabin to make a ‘L’ shape with the older cabin, but I convinced them to mimic the old cabin on the opposite side,” architect D’Arcy Jones says. “So the new site has two buildings across from each other, like an equal sign.” Birch trees grow between the cabins in a shared courtyard.

rammed earth facade

Since Copenhagen is generally cold, the house was painted black to trap warmth. The result was that in its first year, it consumed so little energy that the client received a generous refund from the heating company. “Many wooden houses in Scandinavia use this trick,” Larsen says. “On sunny days it even radiates warmth, so that in spring and autumn you can sit outside by the wall and in this way extend the outdoor season by a few weeks every year. These weeks are valuable in places with little light.”

Short StackA tiny cabin in the Wisconsin Woods makes a big impact with Johnsen & Schmaling's innovative stacked design. The resulting cozy abode is stylish and durable, with stunning views of the surrounding landscape.