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Floor plan of Abbott Hill House by Louis Wasserman and Associates

Large wood beams frame the sauna’s deck and outdoor shower area.

Floral wallpaper in a soothing green hue wraps this workspace designed by Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. The botanical pattern, paired with the rich green trim and ceiling, creates a calm atmosphere that ties back to nature.

Second-level floor plan of Twin Peaks by Workaday Design

To access a secret play area in the 2 Bar House by Feldman Architecture, children clamber up climbing holds purchased from a local sporting goods store.

A family’s getaway in the California desert includes a spa-like main bath with a large soaking tub that connects to an outdoor shower.

This revamped Montreal flat includes a rooftop sauna lined with torrified, or dried, cedar. Outfitted with glass paneling and oriented to capture views of Mount Royal, it is the ideal haven for this hardworking homeowner.

In this sustainable home in Silicon Valley, the primary suite opens to a deck and fern garden with large, sliding glass doors.

Working is much more pleasant when you have natural light to brighten up your space. If you aren’t lucky enough to have a window, then invest in some stylish lighting.

The Irwin Caplan Midcentury project by SHED Architecture & Design includes a private office space on the lower level. The furnishings tie in with the home’s midcentury architecture, including a modern wood desk, an Eames side chair, and a slim Design Within Reach bookshelf.

The screened porch "added even more flexibility to how [the clients] would be spending time there," says Shaw, and immerses them in the forest setting with providing protection from the bugs, including Maine’s notorious black flies.

Streamlined birch plywood cabinetry and a maple butcher-block counter forms the kitchenette, which isn’t intended for extensive meal prep. The building is a blend of "a bedroom and camping," says Shaw, which means much of the cooking and cleaning happens outside.

The window seat can also double as a bed. "It's particularly long, which was so that an adult can sleep there, or two kids could comfortably cozy up and sleep there," says Shaw, noting that it’s tucked around the corner from the bed for privacy.

Roof plan of House of the Tall Chimneys by Frankie Pappas.

“The home wasn’t an inexpensive house to build,” says architect Peter Tolkin. “At the same time, it doesn’t have very fancy interior finishing. We wanted to design a modern house with a certain kind of spirit, and we didn’t think that the interior materials needed to be overly fancy. The two places where we really splurged—I think to great effect—were on the tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen, and the copper cladding, which protects the house but also has a very strong visual component to it.”

Remarkable for its walls of triple-glazed glass, Snorre Stinessen Architecture’s Ejford Cabin straddles two stone ridges on northern Norway’s Hallvardøy Island. Perched on a concrete slab, it intentionally capitalizes upon passive solar conditions and features thick insulation to minimize energy output.

In British Columbia’s Soo Valley, only some 20 minutes from Whistler skiing, this off-grid residence designed by Perkins & Will is a pilot for Delta Land Development’s future alpine settlement. Principally powered by the sun, it’s built to Passive House standards, collecting its own water and treating its own waste. Heated by a GeoExchange geothermal pump, it also embraces natural ventilation with cleverly placed windows.

Turning a shipping container into a home is rarely as simple as it sounds, but design studio LOT-EK set out to prove that these vessels could become the raw material for an efficient prefab construction process with a house in upstate New York. Victoria Masters, Dave Sutton, and their daughter, Bowie, live in the six merged containers.

Hilary Severson and her sons play outside their home, designed by architect Solomon Berg. Set amid mature maples on three acres south of Portland, Oregon, the house has a gabled, standing-seam metal roof and rough-sawn and smooth cedar siding.