The North American SCADpad includes about 300 repurposed vintage rulers. Photo courtesy of the Savannah College of Art and Design.

In the living room are a sectional by American Leather for Room & Board, an Eames lounge chair and ottoman, and a custom floor lamp and coffee table by Jeremy Clark and Ed Haynes.

One North Face tent sits atop a deck; another caps the main building, which contains a kitchen and dining area.

Former Brooklynites, Darren and Cathryn purchased the property in 2013. The passive solar home sits on a sloping site to optimize sunlight.

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White plaster walls and a curved ceiling play up natural lighting, while minimalist decor and furnishings (many of which they designed themselves) make the small space feel larger.

A stockpile of wood sheltered from the elements.

Lassen says the biggest key for designing a small space is to keep things as minimalist as possible. “Don’t try to make anything bigger or build an addition. Just remove all bad architecture and create clean, simple rooms.”

The owners are car collectors, especially of “vintage American Mustangs,” Simpson says, so a nearly 23-foot-wide garage door opening was created at the rear of the building to access a space made for six prized rides.

The "Tippy Cup Rain Chain" teaches the children about water conservation.

The kitchen's layout fosters socializing throughout the cooking and eating process. By placing the island facing the dining table, Serra ensures that someone washing dishes or preparing food can still talk to other people in the room. "The space should encourage those in it to cook up a storm if they choose, several people cooking at once if necessary, and it should provide visual beauty, culture, and a comfortable environment," Serra says.

Visitors scale a series of outdoor staircases that wind their way up the structure. Volume and Studio Terpeluk turned the risers into a teaching moment about energy use and the impact of every day activities.

Mithun designed the tree house so that it would tread lightly on the land. The firm originally considered prefabricating the entire structure offsite but, in the research process, concluded that craning large modules into place would potentially harm the canopy. A combination of a bolted-together prefab structure and site-built wood housing yielded the least intrusive construction option. The Summit Bechtel Reserve is located in West Virginia's coal mining country. The architects looked to the local structures—bridges, mining apparatus, and other industrial buildings—to inform the tree house's design. A 166-ton Cor-Ten steel megastructure supports the 125-foot-tall building. The use of regionally appropriate materials, like steel and black locust wood, was important to the architects.

Mithun wanted to engage the scouts with all elements of the forest: the floor, the canopy, and a perspective above the tree tops. In one of the viewing rooms, visitors get the feeling of being fully surrounded by leaves.

The structure's mission is to teach visitors about the environment and sustainability. San Francisco–based studio Volume designed the exhibition program, which offers interactive displays about water conservation, energy use, recycling, and more.

“Our goal was to strike a good balance between traditional and modern in a way that did not result in simply a traditional exterior and modern interior,” says Lewis. A pressure-treated wood deck extends from the property under a stained pine, V-groove ceiling. Steel and wood comprise the columns.

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

The yellow North Face tent looms over the top of the main building.

The glass-walled master suite opens to the surrounding forest and gardens and feels totally separate from the children’s and guest bedrooms upstairs.

“The main volume presents a traditional front and is wrapped on the west and south by a deep porch,” says architect Erin Sterling Lewis. “Living and dining spaces access the porch.” A standing seam metal roof with a Kynar finish and HardiePlank Lap Siding cover the exterior of this 3,000-square-foot home.

Amy requested a quiet, sunny reading nook with a view; In Situ obliged with a built-in bench housing her collection of books.

The restrained 820-square-foot interior is defined by the angular ceiling. Garlick left the prefabricated structural panels unfinished to save on material costs. A True North wood stove from Pacific Energy heats the house. Max, the family’s cat, naps on a vintage rug purchased on eBay.

Designed by Frank Harmon this residence features deep roof overhangs shade the interior from high summer sun.

Most of the galleries at the new North Carolina Museum of Art are naturally daylit.

Although the team states that a Mono can be placed anywhere in North America without a permit—like a backyard—a place with a view is preferred.

Part of Pyongyang's skyline.

The Clark family residence in Raleigh, North Carolina, was designed around the Series 600 multi-slide window walls from Western Window Systems, a rarity in the southeast.

South American Beach Escape (Governador Celso Ramos, Brazil) Vacation-worthy beaches are as numerous as one-name soccer stars in Brazil, but this exceptional oceanfront rental offers something a bit different. Sure, the swaying hips of Ipanema aren’t in sight. Instead, you and up to seven other friends can enjoy one of a handful of private beaches, drink on the terrace, perhaps grill fish you caught in the property’s fishing boat or oysters you’ve lifted from neighboring rocks. After a few days stay, the house won’t be the only thing integrated with nature. p>Listing at Exceptional property private beach

The firm also designed the kitchen, which was fabricated by Thomson Cabinetry.

This "See America" poster, commissioned by Print Collection, is modeled after the posters made by the Works Progress Administration in the 30s to encourage Americans to engage in domestic tourism by visiting National Parks. Buy it here.

90mm

Paul’s American flag was a gift from one of his clients at the hair salon he owns. A flag should be fairly easy to procure at thrift stores or eBay, but this vintage stock from Urban Outfitters is a quick pick. $389

The American Modern collection by Steubenville is perennially popular among midcentury enthusiasts.

The classic American Modern pitcher.

Although there are numerous Kebony roofs found in Europe and Asia Pacific, a university building in Kansas is the only other prominent North American example discovered by the structural engineer.