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On a rustic strip of coastline near Puerto Escondido, Mexico, S-AR designed a beach getaway with an open concrete grid that frames its natural surroundings.

A wide picture window overlooking illuminates the living room toward the rear of the plan.

A nighttime view reveals the glow of the pink interior and the entrance open to the backyard.

Assembled in just two weeks, this cedar-wrapped passive house near Woodstock, New York, designed by BriggsKnowles A+D, realized a couple's dream of rural living.

Canadian Castaway features a simple and rustic aesthetic with a focus on raw materials. "I didn’t want to paint the wood white, for instance," the owner says. "I just wanted to let it age naturally and invite it to mirror the natural world it's now a part of."

The kitchen features a 10-foot marble island and large windows to frame picturesque views of the waterfront landscape in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Also adding to the bright and airy feeling are two large picture windows, which the homeowners selected instead of upper cabinetry.

At the heart of the home is an expansive great room, complete with walls of doors and built-in shelving. The space also features a stone fireplace, natural wood finishes, and clerestory windows.

The gallery space also opens into the main living area, where wall-to-wall windows overlook the secluded yard and drench the space in natural light. Furness utilized the post-and-beam design to divide spaces in simple and elegant ways.

Maria Milans del Bosch’s Catskills home is attuned to the changing seasons. Sunlight pours into the double-height living room, where a Stûv fireplace and radiant floors keep the space warm in winter.

Upon purchasing a 10-acre plot surrounded by a cluster of boulders, a couple wrote a handwritten letter to architect Kendrick Bangs Kellogg, which resulted in the 5,000-square-foot High Desert House on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park. Kellog spent five years designing a home that would settle into the landscape, “crouching on the rocks, maybe like an animal asleep.” The house features 26 freestanding concrete columns reminiscent of rib bones, and a glass ceiling that fills the home with daylight and views of the stars at night.

Available for the first time since the 1950s, the Brittain-Wachs Residence is a unique slice of architectural history. The 4,300-square-foot home overlooks an expansive green lawn.

A band of clerestory windows runs along the south side of the garden room. Sliding glass doors separate the space from a formal dining area.

In defiance of its oversized neighbors, this sustainable 753-square-foot home in Perth, by architecture firm Whispering Smith, maximizes its small footprint through built-in furniture and textures of concrete, reclaimed brick, tile, and white metal. Devoid of walls and doors, the streamlined spaces flow into one another, and connect to the ample rear courtyard.

On a trip to Naoshima, Japan, the Houston newlyweds behind Robertson Design fell in love with Tadao Ando’s concrete-composed museums. This led the couple to create a residence of their own comprised of a low concrete wall, concrete cube, and box clad in Siberian larch. The indoors are rounded out with white oak, marble, and leather-finished granite.

Japanese and Scandinavian design objects are for sale at the Toronto homewares shop Mjölk, and are also on display in the apartment above it. Here, the store’s owners reside in a two-story space brought to life by Studio Junction. A courtyard spills into the living room and open kitchen and dining area, and translucent shoji-style screens provide privacy. Oak shelves, soap-treated Douglas fir floors, a custom hinoki soaking tub, and a soapstone bowl in place of the kitchen sink are all thoughtful, subtle details.

Upon entering the home, a central gathering of clerestory windows immediately focuses the view. Architects Bridgett Shank and Megan Carter refer to this architectural feature as a ‘light monitor.’

The concrete foundation was poured on top of a rock outcropping, so that the house would feel like part of the natural features of the site.