Concrete

The team shipped the FutureHUAS on five 43-foot-long trailers from Virginia Tech to Dubai, and installed it in less than two days for the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East. The open hatch is for drone deliveries.

About 100 miles southwest of Mexico City, nine black concrete blocks in a forest clearing make up one family's holiday home. Designed by Fernanda Canales with landscaping by Claudia Rodríguez, Casa Bruma makes elegant use of a construction material that's commonplace in Latin America

Precast concrete beams typically used for highways are repurposed in the creative Hemeroscopium House by Ensamble Studio in Madrid.

Concrete stairs leading up to a sleeping loft are illuminated with wall sconces.

"I wanted to preserve the canopy, the sales space, the garage door, everything," Judin tells FvF. "It wasn’t until later that I realized there was also still space for a garden."

The steel canopy protects the residents from Seattle’s notoriously rainy weather as they walk from the entry gate to the front door.

A patio spins off the northern end of the house’s main level. It fronts “Main Street,” which unwinds from the heart of downtown Seattle into a pedestrian foot path bordered by a woodland. “We went with a low and robust barrier instead of a tall wood fence to preserve views to the park,” Schaer says. The table and benches are by Crate & Barrel.

How a highly productive collaboration among a trio of creative Angelenas—and a good dose of Barragán—turned a dark and beleaguered midcentury house into a family home for the ages.

Along with its durability, concrete requires very little maintenance.

For the breezeway, Schwartz used concrete to achieve the feel of a hardscape courtyard. Uma basks beneath the egg-shaped opening.

Murren chose maintenance-free materials, such as Stepstone precast concrete pavers for exterior decks and river-rock-covered flat roofs. He recalls his neighbors’ astonishment and delight when “we went from a giant hole in the ground to a two-story house in just four days.”

Frank Sinatra’s “Twin Palms” Estate

The swanky mid-pool conversation pit was added by new owners during the renovation of a 1970s Brutalist villa in Sardinia, Italy.

The new outdoor wall mural in progress by artist Seth Depiesse on Main Street.