Exterior

Bollbacken, as the retreat is named, features an asymmetrical, peaked roof.

East Facade

Sandwiched between two ornate Victorians, the London home designed by Alma-nac remedies a midcentury blunder with a contemporary correction.

Pernilla collaborated with local craftspeople to utilize different types of woodwork throughout the house. The facade’s vertical spruce panels were sourced nearby, and the steel roof was manufactured in the area.

Andrew and Betsy Frederick’s Maine home comprises two volumes with clapboard siding treated with pine tar to preserve it. A deck at the rear of the home leads to floating walkways that hide plumbing.

The couple kept the existing bocce court, and added throwback seating to match the midcentury mood.

The house was designed to minimally interfere with the hilltop vegetation, which is what attracted the family to the site.

"You can see [with] this building how the design is in the small details and at the urban scale," says Cynthia.

A window in one of the bedrooms frames a view of the garden. The wallpaper is from Superflower, a company run by the couple. It uses Andrew’s images of flowers, which Niki says have a beauty in their “formal and objective” quality, adding depth to traditional patterns.

Adi and Chris chose an L-shaped, pre-permitted plan by Cast Architecture with extensive glass, and resisted two-story options to fit in better with their neighborhood.

After: The kitchen’s countertops and backsplash are “all those 1950s-30s enamel card tables,” Geoffrey explains. “That was a decision I made early on; it took me a year and a half to collect them all.” The beams were a great surprise; they were hidden away in the ceiling. The appliances are former Consumer Reports test appliances bought at auction, and the ceiling lights are a custom design, intended to look mid-century.

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

A couple’s 269-square-foot getaway features a crimson exterior and an unfinished pine plywood interior.