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

The clients insisted that none of the trees on the property be disturbed, so Kevin Alter and his team at Alterstudio Architecture built a deck and an overhang around two of them.

Another view of the deck.

Alterstudio Architecture of Austin designed this house in the Texas capital for a young family of four.

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

With the residents awake inside, this trailer's burnished glow reflects the sunset.

A sky-blue vintage trailer blends in with the sky.

Mark Word Design did the landscaping, with an emphasis on water conservation. "It's about usage levels, but it's also about the way we treat storm water and runoff since it all goes back into our supply at the end of the cycle," designer Sarah Carr says. Word and his team chose plants that help reduce erosion, require little watering, and allow storm water to percolate. Mulch and living ground covers—including Big Blue liriope, marsilea, and Palisades zoysia turf—keep moisture within the soil and lower the temperature of the soil, protecting the roots of the live oak trees.

The interior combines modern and more traditional elements, such as this oriental rug.

The cypress cladding carries over from the exterior to the interior of the house.

On one side of the house, a white central staircase leads to a split-level landing the Robertsons call "the reading room." "We needed a place to hang out and for the kids to read," explains owner Vivi Nguyen-Robertson. Awaiting the birth of the couple's son, she relaxes in a built-in reading nook in the library.

The sitting room.

Builders, developers, designers, and architects have developed a range of homes that are composed of prefabricated, modular, or kit-of-parts pieces that can allow for lower costs, faster and easier on-site construction, and even higher quality spaces. Here, we delve into the differences—and similarities—among these manufactured residences.

On a trip to Naoshima, Japan, the Houston newlyweds behind Robertson Design fell in love with Tadao Ando’s concrete-composed museums. This led the couple to create a residence of their own comprised of a low concrete wall, concrete cube, and box clad in Siberian larch. The indoors are rounded out with white oak, marble, and leather-finished granite.

The low windows in the master bedroom focus the view on the backyard, not the neighbors. Christopher designed the solid poplar platform bed.

An outdoor shower tucked behind a screen off the master bedroom neutralizes this threat. “We thought it sounded great for muddy kids to run up and shower off there,” Coco says.

We love this sleek home office design layout, where steel details contrast mesquite flooring throughout the home, including at the pathway to the "crow’s nest" office. It's also a great option if you're looking for home office ideas for small spaces.

Porches and rolling glass doors draw in the river breeze to keep the home cool.

“The unique site-plan includes the main house, a two-story dog run, and a guest cabin,” Flato says. “All are seamlessly stitched together by a grand boardwalk, making an arrival by boat or by car an equally engaging experience.” Vertical grain Western red cedar acts as the exterior siding.

Tina and Matthew Ford, here with daughter Daisy, are the owners of Shade House Development, the company that designed and is building the suite of houses that comprise Row on 25th in Houston, Texas.

The owners’ main living area has two stories with a master bedroom, which can be accessed by a rolling door, and porches on either end of the structure. “This large, barn-like building, with its moveable bedroom wall and office, allows the house to be both intimate and social, effortlessly accommodating guests or individuals alike,” Flato says.

The series of pitched white buildings was inspired by the work of architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen. “The shell of the house is a very simple form,” says Matthew Ford, “no turns or intersecting roof sections. This allowed me to use solid but inexpensive framing and roofing crews. We are always looking for the point where simplicity and luxury meet.”

“Consistent with the lakefront cabin charm, the owners liked the idea of accessing much of the house from outdoor porches and walkways,” says architect Ted Flato. Supplies from Dynamic Architectural Windows and Doors bring light in to the home’s covered spaces.

Designers Christopher Robertson and Vivi Nguyen-Robertson conceived their house as an unfolding sequence of simple geometric forms: a low concrete wall, a concrete cube, and a boxclad in Siberian larch.

White-oak stairs connect the first-floor living spaces with the upstairs sleeping areas.

Edgeland House, built on a cliff-top lot in Austin by architect Thomas Bercy for lawyer and writer Chris Brown, is topped by a living roof to help it blend into the landscape. The concrete, steel, and glass house is divided into two distinct public and private halves.

At night, the entire studio glows like a lantern, its light amplified by the reflection in the seasonal pond. I

The structure was built onto a concrete-and-steel base. At left is the porch, pre-screening; at right is a cantilevered outdoor shower off the bathroom. The exterior cladding is cedar, stained in four different colors then placed randomly “for a different palette of colors, like a blend of bricks,” says Panton. “The owner’s favorite color is purple, so we added a purple board here and there.”

The fireplace that Lake|Flato designed for the deck is the compound’s focal point. “People can go tuck their small kids into bed and then creep back to the fire pit area and be gregarious late into the night,” Wallace says.

When renovating a house in McAllen, Texas, for his brother-in-law’s family, architect Luis López designed an overhang with concrete beams that protects the front entrance from the area’s frequent rain. A large front window was inserted to provide views through the house to the backyard.

To save money, the main patio was updated with fresh decking, but the metal awning was kept intact.

Residence and Atelier of Patrick Y Wong Copyright Case # 1-266025680 Filed October 27, 2009

The living area is furnished with a Fjord swivel arm chair by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso and a Como sectional chaise by Giorgio Soressi.

Gliss swivel stools and a Dowel bar stool share space in front of a custom maple kitchen island. The pendant lamps are by Lightolier.

Container Bar (Austin, Texas) Years in the making, this stacked watering hole on Austin’s Rainey street has been a huge hit since opening earlier this year, and a soon-to-follow food truck should only bring in more business (and make it more spatially similar). While tap beer is often prefered, this seems like a rare time when canned beer might make more sense. Photo by North Arrow Studio

Architect Kevin Alter integrated wood from the original bungalow into the kitchen and covered the island in Carrara marble, with an interior clad in wood. A long table extends from the side of the island, and wine storage is integrated into one end of the island. New appliances include a Wolf range, a Broan hood, and a Miele oven and refrigerator. The Fucsia pendant lights are by Achille Castiglioni for Flos.