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The home is located far from the road on the northwest corner of the property and oriented toward views of the water.

Perched high in the mountains of Big Bear, California, this 1973 A-frame was renovated by Courtney Poulos into a handsome getaway from Los Angeles.

Available to rent on Airbnb, the two-bedroom prefab house as a prototype for their pre-engineered IT House series and made an appearance in Dwell Magazine’s November 2008 issue.

Studhorse | Olson Kundig

Leo Marmol and Alisa Becket enjoy one of their home’s many outdoor spaces.

Originally built in the 1980s by architect Ray Kappe, the Manhattan Beach home of Matt Jacobson and Kristopher Dukes is anchored by a sweeping circular gesture.

Adrian Jones and Allison Silverman sit at their reclaimed wood dining table. Eco-mindedness is a matter-of-fact part of everyday life for the couple and the designer, Garrick Jones. “Sustainability comes from flexibility and planning for the long term,” Garrick says. “This is not a glammed-up loft.”

At the Mill Valley home designed by architect Chris Deam for residents Jack and Ellen Corrigan, the view begins from the top. Sun studies of the steeply sloped site informed the choice for a standing-seam metal, diagonal ridge roof, which Chris refers to as the home’s “fifth facade”.

Architect Tom Kundig’s assignment was simple enough: Build a tiny, Thoreau-like getaway for an Atlanta-based writer who owned ten acres on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. "The idea was not to clutter anybody’s thinking, especially a writer’s," he said. So he designed a 500-square-foot retreat that’s both womblike and open to its surroundings.

The glass-enclosed master bedroom floats above the corrugated, oxidized steel exterior.

A tiny outbuilding offers a cozy living space inside a simple shell.