Exterior.

Sævik compares her house to a contemplative hideout. “It’s very quiet,” she says. “You can concentrate and let thoughts fly.” Her favorite summer pastimes include reading, painting, drawing, yoga, and “just sitting and feeling the forest,” she says.

The resident, a Tokyo transplant, commissioned architect Tadashi Murai to create a fully-equipped structure that comes with its own power, heating and cooling, water, and waste-disposal systems.

The homes are built on a concrete foundation and are typically constructed in only two days.

“From the street, it appears as a rectangular building with sloping shed roofs, but this is actually an illusion,” Hutchison notes. “The floor plan is actually U-shaped, wrapping around an entry courtyard that is contained by the continuous west facade.” A standing seam metal roof by Custom Bilt Metals blends in with the cedar siding.

“When you enter the courtyard, you realize that you have left the forest and entered the house,” Hutchison says. “We spoke often with [the clients] about the quality of this courtyard. [The client] likes to call it his own Zen garden, although I think that he also likes that the courtyard facade serves to keep the numerous elk in the area at bay.” Concrete pavers, gravel, and ipe decking cover the ground.

Architect Michelle Linden worked with Brothers to create a minimalist house. Inspired by the inward-looking approach of Cistercian abbeys, Linden oriented the U-shaped structure around a courtyard.