One-way mirrored glass wraps around a portion of the home. "We wanted it to reflect like glass so that when you sit on the terrace, you see trees or the view in all directions—including when you look towards the house," says Larsen. The mirror effect is slightly distorted, and no birds have flown into the glass.
When they needed more room for visiting children and grandkids, Karen and Rick Hawkins paid homage to a once common Midwestern sight, the corn crib, by adding to their family farm.
From the street, the house rises two stories, dropping down on the opposite side to follow the slope. Clive envisioned the top floor as a “crow’s nest.”
“The steeply sloping site provides three unique spaces—the living attic, the pool deck, and the garden terrace.”
“Many of Los Angeles’s iconic modern houses float above the city like tethered spaceships on stilts,” says Clive. “I had always yearned for the opportunity to design my own floating home.” Custom black zinc panels and sandblasted concrete form the exterior.
On a hillside in Los Angeles, architect Clive Wilkinson created a three-story home for himself, his wife, Elisabeth, and their children.
Each Getaway location features multiple cabins (complete with picnic tables and fire pits) that are spaced far enough apart to preserve privacy.
Newberg Residence
For architect Stephen Chung, the design of his Wayland, Massachusetts, home was all about blending into the natural environment. The first floor is a serene composition of white and wood. The demand for a domestic office space inspired him to build up, adding a second floor for him to "experiment." In a departure from the Cape Cod aesthetic that rules his block, he was able to give the addition a modernist take, while also literally reflecting the existing landscape of the neighborhood. The entire 1,100-square-foot adjunct that encompasses his second story office-studio, master suite, and fort for his two young sons is swathed in mirrored siding and plate-glass windows.
Unsurprisingly, the home comes complete with a restaurant-grade kitchen. In addition to a full range of appliances, the space features wooden doors from a Spanish monastery and an expansive picture window along one wall.
Storage, fixtures, and appliances are all housed within the monochromatic steel modules in the McCourt Townhouse. "It’s all freestanding, even the unit with the sink in it," says homeowner Chris McCourt. "Two blokes unpacked and fitted it all in a day."
A glazed section perfectly frames country views amidst the book-lined walls of the home’s sitting room. A mobile panel allows residents to modulate light and privacy as they please.
The home displays several applications of the same materials—metal, glass, and concrete—a key characteristic of most Ellwood homes.
Located in Ojochal, Costa Rica, at the edge of a large tropical rain forest, the multi-disciplinary firm of A-01 (A Company / A Foundation) designed a prefabricated home that would respond to its local environment by exclusively using passive climate control.
Built on a tight budget of $120,000, a retirement home in the mountains delivers unexpected contemporary design to a rural township.
Comprising 11 modules, this green-roofed prefab was built in 90 days in a factory near São Paulo and then transported to the site in three shipments on flatbed trucks.
Built as a live/work space for a sculptor, Indigo by Dutch practice Woonpioniers is an eco-friendly, prefabricated cabin with bent wooden walls.
Clad in Western red cedar siding and punctuated with floor-to-ceiling windows, this minimalist two-bedroom home boasts sunrise views over the Sonoma hills.
Measuring only 180 square feet, this exquisite, off-grid tiny home features a big sense of style.
Located among lush, rolling hills in Valles Pasiegos, Spain, Villa Slow is a minimalist holiday home designed by Laura Álvarez Architecture. The property was once a stone ruin, and now it generates more energy than it uses.
Villa Slow houses two bedrooms that allow for various arrangements—the rental can be set up for couples, families, friends, etc. Each room also comes with its own bathroom.
The recessed area in the wooden deck can be used for a fire pit or a vegetable garden.
The Japanese "no-brand" masters of minimalism unveil the first single-story design in their line of prefab homes.
The Birch Le Collaboration House and all of the Hygge Supply homes are made from structural insulated panels (SIPs) and steel framing, both of which are designed and cut to spec and delivered to the job site ready for placement, leaving little to no waste onsite. The homes can either be built on a slab-on-grade foundation with concrete floors; pier foundations with Thermory wood floors; or a basement foundation which also includes Thermory wood floors.
The commission was for a robust and efficient little cabin oriented towards the lake.
Located on the Imingfjell mountainside in Norway, this minimalist, 785-square-foot cabin features a "hood" in response to the climate and the region’s strict building regulations.
To date, the pair and their pals have built a compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, an outdoor shower, and, now, a redwood cabin where an ever widening network of friends gather for skill-sharing workshops and events.
The barn makes extraordinarily efficient use of timber milled from on-site trees.
Building with Cor-Ten steel—weathering steel's nom de plume—is a bit like watching a painting slowly come to life over time. Exposure to the elements adds textured hues of red and orange to the material until it steps into a character completely its own. From the Dwell archive, we bring you nine Cor-Ten steel homes with facades that will continue to shift through shades of ochre, amber, rust, and sienna.
A tiny outbuilding offers a cozy living space inside a simple shell.
On an undulating stretch of California coastline, a hidden guesthouse runs free of the grid. "The house is elemental," says project architect Dan Weber of Santa Barbara–based firm Anacapa, who collaborated on the project with designer Steve Willson. "We endeavored to make it out of materials that would wear and take on a patina over time, so they could feel like part of the landscape." Unfinished steel, board-formed concrete, and glass continue inside, where rich black walnut—used for ceilings, cabinetry, and furniture—provides an inviting contrast. "On a foggy day, you want that feeling of warmth around you," says Margaret. Brass fixtures complement the deep-hued wood.
The Phoenix home of designers and builders Sarah Swartz Wessel and Ethan Wessel sits amid desert-friendly trees and plants. The couple bought the property in 1998 and worked on the house for a decade. Juxtaposed with limestone floors, wood-beamed ceilings, and walls of hand-troweled plaster and board-formed concrete, glass is strategically placed throughout the 4,000-square-foot expanse to frame slivers of landscape and sky or open wide to reveal gardens of various sizes, which the couple also designed.
The home’s third floor is cantilevered to offer better views and to create an outdoor terrace for the family to enjoy in the warmer months.
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