“It’s never static or solid here—with thelight, there’s always some sort of movement.”—Austin Lowrey, resident
Opaque, white masonry walls alternate with large glass expanses throughout to create a visual palette of shadow and light.
Massive, timber-framed sliding doors connect the master bedroom with the outdoors.
Casa TM floor plan.
Inside the home, each volume tonally matches its exterior. The stucco-clad upper floor, which contains mostly private quarters, prominently features white oak casework.
The master bedroom is shaded by exterior slats in cumaru, a sustainable tropical wood. Alazraki designed the custom bed frame.
Casa Sisal entrance
And the fireflies at dusk
One of five ponds outside of Casa Sisal
Casa Sisal at dusk
Front of Casa Sisal from pond
Homeowner and co-designer Christopher Hansen heads for the beach from the home’s double-height entry hallway, where a glass stairway with parota wood treads maintains sight lines.
The Hansen Residence—also known as Modern Surf Shack or Casa Los Arboles—is a simple concrete construction, providing a robust envelope to withstand storms (the walls are double the thickness required by code). From the beach, stairs lead up to the main bedroom.
Homeowner and surfer Christopher Hansen envisions a secluded oceanfront retreat that lets him keep an eye on the waves.
The Slow offers much more than boutique accommodations, steeping guests in a curated experience that blends art across several disciplines.
In thinking about the worldwide lack of reliable water, sanitation, food, and electricity—and the fact that housing sector contributes more than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions—the Yale Center for Ecosystems in Architecture and the New Haven, Connecticut–based architecture firm Gray Organschi Architecture designed and constructed a 230-square-foot home called the Ecological Living Module (ELM). The construction is a fully off-grid housing prototype that was designed to take advantage of sustainable materials, green technology, and simple construction methods. There's a a rainwater harvesting system, a solar system that provides 100 percent of the building’s energy needs, and a graywater system that irrigates food-producing plants that mark the building’s west facade.
Topped with solar panels, the gabled prefab is equipped with 12-foot-tall aluminum security gates that keep the dwelling secure when not in use.
This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.
Architect Bill Yudchitz asked his son, Daniel, to help him create a self-sustaining multi-level family cabin in Bayfield, Wisconsin.
"We imagined how six people would use the space and developed the shape accordingly," says Hello Wood cofounder Dávid Ráday. "We took inspiration from the design of space capsules, and the cabin was refined step by step before reaching its final form."
For the nature-loving traveler, The Edward Bed & Breakfast in Prince Edward County, Ontario has a glass-and-wood cabin for rent with a neighboring bathhouse. The cozy inn provides everything from breakfast to camp gear, so you can pack light.
Constructed on land he had owned for years, this tiny cabin is also totally green.
Architect Hank Louis worked with Navajo tribe elders to secure a 66-year lease on a half-acre lot in the middle of Bluf, Utah, for Rosie Joe and her children.
A tradition of weekend hiking trips served as the premise for Jeff and Millie Baird’s off-the-grid retreat in California’s Sonoma County. Affectionately named Camp Baird, the home is located on a 165-acre parcel near a campsite the couple and their two young daughters had visited for years. Architect Malcolm Davis worked with contractors Fairweather & Associates on the new build; landscape architect Cary Bush of Merge Studio incorporated drought-resistant nativeplantings into the property.
Helsinki architect Ville Hara and designer Linda Bergroth collaborated on a prefab shed-meets-sleeping cabin, which can be assembled with little else than a screwdriver. Bergroth, inspired by nomadic yurt dwellers, wanted an indoor/outdoor experience for her property in Finland.
For the Knoxville-based CEO of environmentally-focused marketing firm the Shelton Group, building an off-the-grid lakefront pavilion in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, wasn’t so simple. With the help of architect Brandon Pace, she built a small prefabricated cabin on a “funky piece of property” on Norris Lake, a man-made reservoir.
The dark cedar-stained lanai is the cozy, attractive center of activity at Kūono .
“It’s the biggest one you can get,” says Patrick Powers of the shipping container he revamped and moved to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Steel frames hold ample glazing, including a pair of custom 2,000-pound sliding doors.
While shopping for containers, Hill was instantly drawn to this one’s existing blue color and chose to buy it and leave it as is. Poteet added floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to allow light in, as well as a cantilevered overhang to shade a window on the left side, which houses a small garden storage area.
Owner Stacey Hill was instantly drawn to this shipping container’s existing blue color and chose to leave it unchanged. Architect Jim Poteet added floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to allow light in, as well as a cantilevered overhang to shade a window on the left side, which houses a small garden storage area.
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