Exteriors

The freestanding tub provides views of the forested land.

The surrounding landscape was subtly modified to create a path to the bathroom, and to hide the columns on which the structure sits.

The evening view of the glass louvered studio below with the roof deck.

The front of the house restored and adapted

Designed in 1950 for a teacher named Foster, this unique two-bedroom midcentury known as the Foster House was one of the architect's earliest residential commissions.

The second-level loft area glows at night.

The Farnley Hey house in West Yorkshire has undergone many changes since Peter Womersley designed it in 1954. Christian Harvey and Victoria Davies, the current owners, are working to update the house—and undo some of the previous alterations, including removing the greenhouse inserted under the cantilevered second floor—while staying true to its original aesthetic.

From afar, the exacting application of the cedar makes the home’s exterior appear uniform and monolithic. Once viewed up close, the texture and depth of the natural wood is illuminated.

Taking advantage of the temperate California climate, Bridge House embraces indoor-outdoor living to the fullest. Several outdoor living and entertaining zones have been incorporated, while the large glass sliders at the interior courtyard completely disappear to invite nature in.

Comprising 11 modules, this green-roofed prefab was built in 90 days in a factory near São Paulo and then transported to the site in three shipments on flatbed trucks.

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

In wild, rugged Patagonia, Chilean architectural firm SAA Arquitectura + Territorio has crafted a comfortable and contemporary home in a notoriously inhospitable environment where access to materials and labor is limited. The exterior is entirely sheathed in shingles made from locally sourced lenga wood, a species native to the Patagonia-Andean forests.

The unit is wrapped in black Hunter Douglass Quadroline aluminum and gray Valchromat Viroc cement-bonded particle board, which is water- and fire-resistant, non-toxic, sound dampening, and thermally insulating.

Naturally rusted steel sheathes the cabins that Malek Alqadi built on a 1954 homestead outside Joshua Tree National Park. "I loved the idea of stitching the existing structure back together, reinforcing it, and giving it life again without compromising the beautiful setting it’s in," he says.

Heritage hemlock, purchased from Old Order Mennonites, clads one of the facades. "The whole [aging] process takes about three years to get the boards into the position where they have turned gray enough," says Bocken.

In Toronto’s West End lies Sorauren 116, one half of a dual residential development that was completed over an arduous, three-year period by architects from Ancerl Studio.

To ensure continuity, the middle portion of the terrace—including integrated heaters, a ceiling fan, and a fire pit—is covered with a minimal slope roof that Wade Design Architects cleverly hid above a continuous line of structural beams.

The home's overhangs provide shade. “We wanted to make sure the house was comfortable,” says Ikegami. “You have cross-ventilation, and the interior is filled with light from the clerestory.”

A 100-year-old oak shades the front of the house, which is clad in weathering yellow cedar.