Cooper | Soffer

Standing-seam copper siding accentuates sections of the structure that provide shear support for the steel moment frame.

The Mono structure's single-engineered truss frame makes it capable of withstanding harsh weather—from heavy snow, to downpours, to heat. It also comes in three variations.

The beach shack's corrugated metal shell is detailed with curved edges. The building faces northeast to take advantage of ample sunlight and ocean views.

Nestled within a forest clearing near the Argentinian city of Córdoba, this 2,153-square-foot house named "La Negrita" is designed to exist in harmony with nature. Designed by Córdoba–based Morini Arquitectos, the house first reveals itself as a black corrugated wall in the middle of the woodlands. "The house is totally introverted [and] mysterious towards the street and extroverted towards the interior," says Morini.

Built on a tight budget of $120,000, a retirement home in the mountains delivers unexpected contemporary design to a rural township.

Kanuka Valley House by WireDog Architecture

Exterior Front of House with Board Form Landscape Walls

View of back patio on main house and adjacent apartment with hottub deck above.

On the northwestern tip of Scotland’s Isle of Skye is a vacation rental that's inspired by the region’s traditional “crofter style” cottages, but covered with a skin of tin. Designed and built by Gill Smith and Alan Dickson of Scottish practice Rural Design Architects, this house sits along the rugged Isle of Skye coast and has a rudimentary form that recalls children’s drawings of pitched-roof homes. Smith and Dickson constructed the house using corrugated metal sheeting, which is commonly used for agricultural sheds or

“There’s a presence to that place—it’s vast, and constantly shifting,” Moffitt says. “It was clear that this house should be an observation shed for the changing landscape beyond.”

The gabled addition is topped with a standing seam metal roof and is clad in vertical corrugated metal siding.

Nestled in the woods, Chalet Grand-Pic was completed for construction costs of approximately $227,000.

The native plantings in the courtyard, which is enclosed by a wall for privacy in the suburban setting, visually link it to the established eucalyptus trees at the front and rear of the property. The home’s dark cladding is accented by rose gold stainless steel panels.