Exterior

The 3,249-square foot home sits on a rural 1.4-acre lot in picturesque Ada, Michigan.

The home, originally a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom house, was originally purchased by Sylvia Rocha as a place for her and her daughter to live. Now, more than 25 years later, Sylvia's daughter and grandson, Jax, continue to spend time at the house; Jax even has his own room in the expanded second floor loft area.

Alloi Architects and Construction transformed a typical 1940s Los Angeles ranch home that had been modified piecemeal over the years. The firm — certified passive house designers — expanded and upgraded the home, which the owner had purchased in the 1990s.

James D. Faubion and William R. Duell soak in the sun and admire the view from the deck, which the anthropologist and playwright plan to use for readings.

In a 4,000-person village known for epic windsurfing vacations, Atelier Branco builds a striking courtyard home.

In the Brazilian village of São Miguel do Gostoso, a house by architects Pep Pons and Matteo Arnone is emblematic of the area’s budding tourism industry.

The butterfly roof adds a joyful kineticism to the exterior while creating practical angles ideal for solar panels and rainwater collection.

The main body of the house is clad in cedar painted in Benjamin Moore Deep Caviar, joined with Buechel Stone Spalted Oak Sienna Flats, and natural cedar on the ends. Each finish alludes to the different eras of the house, layered together, with the painted cedar marking “the original body of the home,” says Natalie. “The stone felt like it was an important element of the earth to bring in, and the two other cedar elements at the ends are additions.”

On the front facade, ground-faced concrete blocks contrast with cumaru wood tongue-and-groove siding.

Cedar siding is combined with black metal cladding that spills down from the metal roof, all providing maintenance-free durability.

The home's interlocking twin volumes—addressing street and nature view, respectively— were inspired by Louis Kahn's Fisher House in Pennsylvania.

A wall of slatted wood facing the street masks an exterior ADU stairway and an upstairs wall of glass that glows at night.

The 1990 residence figures into a long tradition of experimental architecture in the California high desert, along with the nearby Institute of Mentalphysics designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Situated near the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, the property includes a backyard with firepit and hot tub.

The property comprises three monolithic volumes: a green structure with the kitchen and living/dining room, a connected blue building with the bedroom and bath, and a freestanding pink gazebo that holds a long wooden table for covered outdoor dining.

Architect Joshua Schweitzer’s The Monument House figures into a long tradition of experimental and radical architecture in the California high desert, along with the nearby Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Institute of Mentalphysics.