Casas

Exterior with infinity pool-VILLA CP

The 4,478-square-foot Yellow Door House features two parallel concrete prefab buildings that are offset from each other. Between the structures, a semi-enclosed area features a bar, outdoor shower, and storage racks for surfboards.

The kitchen and dining connects to the living room.

An overview of the courtyard.

The 3,000-square-foot house sits partially on stilts to tread as lightly as possible on its natural island site.

Fields of native grasses connect the main residence, situated at the top of the slope, to the new structures scattered below. A pergola extends from the post-and-beam structure that was maintained during the remodel of the midcentury home.

SOA Soler Orozco Arquitectos . Casa Molina

A Kennebunk family needed their forever home, and the old farmhouse and barn that stood on their property wasn't going to cut it. The architects at Caleb Johnson Studio started the process by salvaging everything they could from the old buildings, including the timber roof structure, interior wood cladding, and interior doors. Additionally, the architects also claimed cabinetry and fixtures from a midcentury home that was being torn down in Weston, Massachusetts. By incorporating such materials into the new home's design, they were able to create a modern farmhouse with soul.

Organized around a central courtyard, the home’s three modules are oriented to maximize views of downtown Marfa; 20-foot-deep piers drilled below each concrete footing root the structure to the site and help stabilize it against West Texas winds, which can reach 120 miles per hour.

For Gabriel Ramirez and his partner Sarah Mason Williams, following the Sea Ranch rules—local covenants guide new designs—didn’t mean slipping into Sea Ranch clichés. The architects love Cor-Ten steel, with its ruddy and almost organic surface, and they made it the main exterior material, along with board-formed concrete and ipe wood. The Cor-Ten, which quickly turned an autumnal rust in the sea air, and the concrete, with its grain and crannies, mean the house isn’t a pristine box, Ramirez says. His Neutra house “was very crisp and clean,” he says. “This house is more distressed, more wabi-sabi.”

Shaded by an awning from TSM Systems and furnished with Sol y Luna pieces from Design Within Reach, the rear patio is a favorite spot for meals.