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Cedar, glass, and concrete combine in this minimalist pool house that draws inspiration from Mies van der Rohe’s 1929 Barcelona Pavilion. The pool house, built into a mountainside west of Montreal and designed by Halifax–based MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, employs board-formed concrete for the home's expressive exterior.

A look at the backyard.

The home's living spaces are built around the property rather than in the center.

The beds, closets, and bathroom nooks are all built-ins, so one space seamlessly flows to the next with a sense of uniformity.

All the areas of the home open up to the garden to maximize potential for indoor/outdoor living.

A long bluestone roof deck overlooks the pool and the expansive lawn.

The midcentury modern home is located on 1.7 acres of land and features bluestone terraces, fieldstone walls, and elevated views of the countryside.

The house sits well within its rocky, forested landscape.

The idea for a new 1,722-square-foot house was born when the home's owner spoke to Ziyu Zhuang of RSAA: "Look at the tallest tree that survived in our village. It’s beautiful. It should be seen in this house after it's been rebuilt." And so the design of the home, named Tongling Recluse, evolved around preserving the tree and elements from the old ruins.

Embedded in the side of a valley in New Zealand’s Southern Alps, facing out over pristine Lake Wanaka, stands a new home meant to look as though it is part of the land around it. "It resembles the large schist rocks you see all over this region that are half-buried in the hillside and poke out at strange angles," says Andrew Simpson of WireDog Architecture, the Wellington-based firm that designed it.

The rear courtyard appears to float over the site. On the right is a large screened porch with three walls of retractable insect screens from Phantom Screens, which make it easy to use the space whether it's bug season or not.

Fallingwater, view of entry (center) with trellis beams extending across drive.

Approach via gravel driveway

The house has an exposed wooden structure and a large terrace with wide steps set over the basement of the original house.

The house was designed to seamlessly integrate into its surroundings. It is conceived as a "looking box" to the mountain ranges, with ample outdoor decks and patios to enjoy the views.

The property at dusk.

While this architecturally significant three-bedroom, four-bath home was prelude to the iconic architect's future work, The David and Gladys Wright House is now considered FLW’s last residential masterpiece.

After Witthoefft sold the home, it was abandoned for years, accumulating severe damage in the process. When new homeowners sought to rescue the house in 2007 from the wrecking ball, Witthoefft reassured them that the damage was not irrevocable. "It was built on solid rock, and the welded steel frame wasn’t going anywhere," he said.