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The wood cladding extends outside and wraps around a corner of the facade. Alemán Design Build oversaw the landscaping.

“We told Eric and Meejin we wanted the house to be highly conceptual. They got it right away,” says Patrick.

The 338-square-foot Fold House combines a pool pavilion embedded into the hillside with a two-story guesthouse.

The stairs lead up to a green roof that camouflages the building amidst the landscape and protects it from direct solar heat gain in the summer.

The pool volume features an 80' x 10' glass facade that slides open to connect the interior to the garden. “Minimizing the amount of deflection of the cantilevered roof at the sliding glass panels to a 10-millimeter max was a challenge,” say the architects. “We had to reinforce and brace the main structural beam greatly to stiffen up the roof, as well as double up our cantilevered beams.”

A breezeway to the right of the trough separates the pool pavilion from the guesthouse.

A Loafer sofa and Lounge chairs by Space Copenhagen for &Tradition are arranged around a Kim table by Luca Nichetto for De La Espada. The side table is a Lato marble table by Luca Nichetto for &Tradition.

The kitchen has become a lab for Scott’s food experiments and a studio for his ventures, such as the Acid League—a startup that makes artisanal “living vinegar” and condiments.

The custom kitchen cabinetry and table are made from Douglas fir. The Elefy dining chairs are by Jaime Hayon for &Tradition, and a Tine K Home pendant lamp hangs above. Polished concrete floors run throughout the space.

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.

This warehouse conversion by Ian Moore Architects also features an equine genetics laboratory and an enormous garage filled with classic cars.

Annemie Lathouwers grew up in a forested enclave on the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium. A nature preserve filled with stately pines, the area lured her back when she and her husband, David D’Hulst, began thinking about trading their house in the city for greener surroundings.

The curvature keeps the home cozy as it breaks up the open-concept main spaces. In the family room, there is a fluted concrete fireplace.

This innovative residential addition by Best Practice Architecture was built to give an aging family member a safe, well-designed, and private dwelling. In addition to meeting the immediate needs of the family, the space also needed to accommodate future use as a rental unit, studio, or office. Converting an existing garage was the perfect solution. Carefully placed windows and skylights provide lots of daylight, while exposed rafters create a loft-like atmosphere. A short walk through the entryway reveals the bedroom, bathroom, and laundry room. A lofted space above the bathroom can be used as storage, an office, or sleeping quarters. It also opens to a private back deck. All of these details come together to create an inviting, open-concept accommodation, making the relatively small footprint of this granny pad feel much larger than it really is.

"When the clients first saw the fire in the rammed-earth fireplace, they told me it instinctively connected with them, and they felt calm," says architect Tono Mirai on the curved profile of this feature.