A bothouse in Georgian Bay, Ontario, by Weiss Architecture & Urbanism Ltd. is clad in black-stained resawn cedar.

A food-service area with a bar is a defining feature.

Kayaks and windsurfing equipment are stored in the main cedar-clad volume.

Many prefab architects and suppliers specialize in either modular or panelized construction. Minneapolis architect Charlie Lazor has worked with both mediums. This lake house in rural Ontario, Canada, is an example of one of his modular projects. It was built in a Wisconsin factory about 400 miles away.

The Japanese-style bathroom, which is clad in teak, features a matching tub and sink by Bath in Wood.

The large windows let in fresh breezes and provide an opportunity for the owners to jump out of the house and into the water.

Harper sits on the porch just off the entrance. James notes that the children spend their time “swimming in the dam, feeding the chickens, and riding their ponies or bikes. It’s really just the simple stuff that we had when we grew up in the late ’70s and ’80s."

The house comprises a series of modules, with the main living areas occupying the center and the master bedroom on the right. A large deck juts off the living room.

Perched above a lake on Australia’s verdant Mornington Peninsula, James and Imogen Tutton’s teak-clad house was designed by Karen Alcock of Melbourne-based MA Architects.

The long gangplank of a deck runs right out into the fields, a fact that Treanor relishes.

“The house’s narrow footprint works for us in terms of maximum exposure to the lake,” says Gibbs (shown here with son Blake and dog Max on the shore of Lake Iosco). Glass walls and doors by Andersen also mean that Gibbs can keep a close eye on Blake when he’s playing in the yard. A plinth of reused bedrock found on the property has become an unintended place for active play.

A DublDom house rests on a barge.

Cedar slats help this Ontario lake house float soundly atop still waters. Photo by: Raimund Koch

Ducks swim close to the windows.

superrkül dubbed this project the Stealth Cabin because it's hidden in the landscape and will continue to recede in view over time. Photo by Shai Gil.

Last year, architecture firm Microclimat completed a rigorously modern fitness center in the city of Waterloo, Ontario. The asymmetrically gabled structure rises from the wintery landscape, sporting a palette of steel, cherry wood, and red cedar.

Amid the motley of architectural styles, from nautically inspired to shingled country cabin, Herbie Schlaepfer and Barbara Haeusermann's newly built, 2,894-square-foot home is like a palate cleanser for the eyes. One zinc cube cantilevers off the other, with great walls of glass that slide open and disappear.

The tiny houseboat, named Sneci, is crafted primarily from wood and aluminum.

View of the boathouse from the lake.

The Dusky Parakeet is outfitted with a 500-liter water storage tank and solar panels, so it can run 100% off the grid if needed.

Don't neglect the faucet. It’s important to remember that faucets aren’t always included in a new vanity, which may require a bit of research and coordination.

With a large glass door from Capral that opens completely to the elements, the master bedroom becomes part of the landscape. Imogen sits with Millie, one of the family’s two greyhounds. The art is by Noel McKenna (top) and Ray Crooke; the butterfly chair cover was custom-made by a saddler. The carpet is from Supertuft.

“By creating high ceilings with large windows, the feeling is all about space and light,” says architect Robert Nebolon, principal of Berkeley firm Robert Nebolon Architects. The 2,100-square-foot floating house was built on land in six months before settling into its final location in Mission Creek.

The dwelling is raised on three marine-grade, aluminum-alloy flotation tubes, each with five sealed compartments for extra safety.

A Norwegian boathouse by TYIN featured in Cabins (Taschen, 2014).

In 1910, Frank C. Barnes commissioned Kruse & Banks to build the Mirene (named after his wife, Isabelle Mirene Payne) as a 64-foot gasoline schooner for tending canneries in Alaska. The schooner was completed in Coos Bay, Oregon, two years later. The Mirene was then converted into a diesel tugboat by the 1930s and in the mid 70s, she had been sailed to Sausalito, California, stripped of all hardware, and changed into a floating home in Dredgetown, an old houseboat community.

Suzanne and Brooks Kelley at the back of their 1,100-square-foot guest cottage.

SHED converted the side door into the front door, adding a new entry sequence with a patio, landscaping, stairs, and a metal awning to protect the porch. Wide stairs and a patio lead down to new sliding glass door in the basement, which now has utility spaces and a media room/office. Many of the original window openings were kept on this façade and given new Andersen E-Series units. Two smaller openings were bricked in.

On the edge of the lake is a boathouse with a kitchenette and roof terrace.

In 1962, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architect Arthur Witthoefft won the AIA's highest honor for a home he built in the lush woods of Westchester County. Having fended off a developer's wrecking ball, Todd Goddard and Andrew Mandolene went above and beyond to make this manse mint again.

The 1,020-square-foot home features decks off the living room and both bedrooms.

Currently moored in the heart of Lake Union, the Pied-A-Mer is conveniently located near downtown Seattle.