The Greenpoint, Brooklyn, offices of Kickstarter, designed by Ole Sondresen Architect, will be featured on the Building of the Day tour on October 9.

The architects designed the large dining table, which is framed by the open kitchen, the wood-burning stove, and the garden beyond.

Their daughters, Annapurna, left, and Siddartha, play with their dog, Anouck, beneath the kangaroo paws in the entry garden courtyard.

Russell-Clarke tends a small garden.

"The cedar siding is simply stained with a black semi-transparent oil stain [from Cabot], which allows the color of the wood to still emerge through,” architect Robert Hutchison says. “We love how the black color makes the building recede into the background, and how it in turn allows the trees on the site to emerge as the highlight.”

Stepstone's narrow concrete pavers add a graphic touch to the garden.

Purple thistles, California poppies, clover, and dandelions have all taken root in the roughly 10-inch-deep, lightweight humus and grape-husk soil in this 580-square-foot green roof. Designer Peter Liang says that he "wanted to plant a green roof for its thermal mass, but I wanted it to be as natural as possible."

"In this project, we got so much benefit out of this 'secret garden' for the master suite along with all of these environmental benefits that the residents were excited to embrace. It's one of the pieces we are happiest about," says architect Jonathan Feldman.

Burnette sought to maintain the property’s natural vegetation and rocky ground surface.

Just up a ladder is the green roof, which is planted with maintenance-free sedums and tall grasses near the patio that Monkman tends carefully.

The hardscaping helps keep water use to a minimum. The Lais used gravel—accented by drought-tolerant bamboo—to create their side yard.

“They wanted to keep the house to one level so that they could retire there without worrying about stairs and access,” Hutchison says. The home features two bedrooms, and the second one is available to guests and the homeowners’ college-age son.

Olson Kundig refurbished this 1950s building as a flexible off-site exhibition space for SFMOMA's Project Los Altos in downtown Los Altos, California. The firm replaced the front facade with a double-height, floor-to-ceiling window wall that can be raised or lowered at the whim of the user.

The couple asked for a “no maintenance, not low maintenance” backyard. However, Shino tends to “Carlsbad's largest public bathroom for cats” (otherwise known as their Japanese-style rock garden) about once a month. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

“I believe that whenever you’re hiring an artist, and Funn is an artist, he’s going to do his best work if he’s trusted,” says Kartheiser.

Villa Bio is situated a little over an hour outside of Barcelona in Llers, a green, hilly, sun-bathed sprawl near Figueres (hometown of everyone’s favorite mustachioed surrealist, Salvador Dali). The hydroponic rooftop garden grows out of volcanic stones. The home is conceived as a giant C-shaped spiral.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food scraps and yard waste make up 20 percent of what we throw away. Composting organic materials keeps them out of the landfill, which cuts down on greenhouse gases, and enriches the soil. To compost at home, make a pile in your backyard, or introduce an indoor bin for throwaways like apple peels and eggshells.

A common space features Hee Welling’s About a Chair 12 for Hay and a Stick round table by Valsecchi 1918.

The cantilevered main floor creates space for bracken fern and other indigenous vegetation to flourish.

“This house is actually quite demanding; you have to be committed.”—Resident Nathalie Vandemoortele

Hutchins and Montague worked with Samuel H. Williamson Associates Landscape Architecture on the garden, which is planted with sword ferns, vine maple, and wild ginger. “When we look at it from the bedroom, it’s our private little forest,” Montague says.

Desk Rail The Desk Rail keeps all your desk clutter in order with a sleek aluminum slot that can fit right over messy cables or a cord to charge your phone.

Kickstarter Office (Ole Sondresen Architect) The crowdfunding giant moved into this new Greenpoint space, a former pencil factory on 58 Kent, earlier this year. The building's evolution from industrial space to 21st-century innovation hub included the addition of a light-filled courtyard made from reused steel trusses and an expansive green roof.

A second green roof is planted with sedum and plays host to one of the family’s favorite spots: a hammock. Bentheim suggested adding a trellis overhead to soften and balance the appearance of the facade.

The kitchen, the property's only modern addition, has been created from a garden courtyard. The space has been enclosed by a glazed roof and wall with sliding door, yet it retains its open feel.

“Our drive to have a landscaped garden was for the kids to be able to have a space where they could adventure around the place,” says Natalie. “And part of what we enjoy is being able to sit and admire something that’s so beautiful.” They chose hardy Australian native plants to make the garden easy to maintain with minimal water.

The installation "In a State of Repair" seeks to highlight the work of craftspeople, artisans, and technicians who repair things that break. Martino Gamper, a designer and the exhibition's curator, hopes this inspires people to keep the belongings they have instead of throwing them away if they break.

Sunken Garden

At over 500 square feet, the house’s green roof may be its most powerful—and most expensive—environmental statement. It cost $8,000 to waterproof, and $7,000 to landscape. Water from the roof feeds the toilet and the garden’s watering system, and the garden itself insulates the house and keeps gas bills low in winter. Photo by Nic Granleese.

While Brooklyn brownstones conjure up memories of their turn-of-the-century roots, they also remain the modern-day face of New York’s coolest boroughs. With brownstone living, however, comes responsibility—many of these classic beauties are in need of renovation and restoration. Here are 10 standout, renovated brownstones that retain their original charm with added contemporary cool.

A gravel path leads to a guesthouse, where Trainor supplemented an existing garden of yuccas and palm trees with succulent aeoniums and flowering euphorbias.

The kitchen and dining room connect to the courtyard for a breezy, indoor/outdoor environment.

Michael and Tamami brought greenery to the master bath courtyard, which is lined with Eco Arbor Designs deck tiles, in the form of succulents in a ceramic Peanut planter by John Follis for Architectural Pottery from Vessel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

The knotty cedar cladding from Crenshaw Lumber was pretreated with an ebony stain from Timber Pro UV—twice on both sides—prior to being brought to the site, where it was left for eight weeks so that it could adjust to the moist seaside air before installation. “Cedar siding swells or shrinks when it gains or loses moisture while it reaches equilibrium with the content of the surrounding air,” says Michael. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

In the backyard, Umerani and Fashandi decided to limit the lawn to minimize water consumption.