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

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

The bathroom features white and black tile and a small rock bed.

The White House, 2006.

Across the path is the resident's favorite spot from which to take in the aquatic tableau: a rock garden and sitting area created by landscape designer Tory Polone. Chairs rest near the a hidden grade-level gas fire pit—an on-demand campfire.

David Hernandez and Jack enjoy the house’s walled garden.

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.

Tall and surprisingly open, the Tel Aviv Town House by Pitsou Kedem Architects continues in the tradition of its Bauhaus-inspired neighbors with a white facade and black window frames.

Jessica Helgerson Interior Design updated a split-level ranch house in Portland by introducing a clean white palette and vintage furnishings.

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

The front of the house was originally a storefront, with large windows overlooking the street.

Studiopietropoli created two houses on one site, each with fluid connections to the surrounding garden. A green roof creates a portico between them.

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."

The back-yard yields veggies and flowers, and another Postgreen project is under construction just beyond the fence. “The 100K House is not over the top in terms of energy efficiency. It’s better than code, sure, but ultimately it’s just what makes sense.” says Chad Ludeman.

"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.

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.

Orgone chaise longue by Marc Newson for Cappellini

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!

Waechter Architecture reimagined a traditional gabled home in southeast Portland without significantly altering the original building. A simple coat of red paint abstracts the century-old structure, creating a residential work of art.

The clients and design team chose to forego an open floor plan in favor of defined, separated spaces. In this scheme, the vertically oriented spaces act as a cinematic "hard-cut" to their horizontal counterparts. The custom hot rolled steel kitchen, one of these vertical transition spaces, receives light from above through a Velux skylight. A GE Profile Induction cooktop and oven and Miele refrigerator complete the space.

A small country road borders the property to the west.

House O, designed by Jun Igarashi, forgoes hallways and interior doors in favor of casually interconnected rooms.

Marcus Lee and Rachel Hart’s wonderful wooden home sits at the end of a quiet London lane and politely turns its back on the workshops next door.

Corporate high-flyers and admitted neat freaks Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton couldn’t handle the chaos anymore. Read more about this Victorian terrace in London here.

“In this house, the roof is the only facade—the rest is dissolved beneath it.” —Architect Aljoša Dekleva

At the entry looking upward towards a Velux skylight, a vertical "sleeve" is made of stacked end grain plywood. The theme of vertical and horizontal architectural elements providing different environmental perspectives carries through to the rest of the home. Horizontal forms look out to the lake, while the vertical columns look up the sky.

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

The grid pattern ebbs and flows in popularity in art and fashion as well as in design. Artist Jean-Pierre Raynaud is famous for his home in Paris, La Maison in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, which sported an interior composed almost entirely of 15-centimeter-square white tiles, evenly spaced out with black grout.

The city’s bustling nightscape is captured from a footbridge at the Victory Monument.

“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.

According to Paul Raff, the biggest design challenge was creating a functional home that would accommodate the family's regular activities (dining, music, play, homework) all on one level. This was solved by "collaging spaces of different shapes and sizes together, and by interconnecting them all with a very open and seamlessly integrated kitchen." The airy family kitchen features Loire limestone floors, BassamFellows Tractor stools, and an Eames molded plastic chair.