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The living room sits at the rear of the house, connected to the garden. "Even though it's a very small house, we wanted the living room to be very generous," says the couple. "This room is the life of the house."

The entryway is tucked behind a thin steel wall, shielding it from the kitchen. The designers created a six-inch shelf on the kitchen side for storage.

The site was constrained by the root system of the mature trees, along with parking requirements, leading to a massing of two stacked boxes, with the larger upper level creating an overhang.

Architects Ernesto Cragnolino and Krista Whitson designed and built an efficient four-bedroom home for their family in Austin.

“The darker, midnight blue exterior paint color was used on all of the existing building elements to create more of a dynamic contrast with the new structure, which was painted white," says Ryan. Tomatoes, little gem lettuce, green beans, a tobacco plant, and a few strawberry bushes (tended by the kids) grow in the courtyard.

The outdoor shower situated off of the master bedroom is enclosed to offer privacy and features a courtyard garden. Michael Arp of Lanoha Nurseries designed the house's landscaping.

The 1000-square-foot ADU is two levels with a footprint that allows the owners to retain plenty of outdoor space for their dogs to play. The façade “is a rain screen system, so the heat gain on the Brazilian hardwood is minimized by being physically separated by an air gap between it and the membrane behind it,” said Knight. “So, the wood heats up when sun hits it and this is not directly translated into the wall on the interior; it is instead buffered by this air gap.” The large doors and second-story skylights then work together to pull a nice breeze through the house.

"When we started out, Casey wasn’t married and wasn’t dating anyone," says architect Arthur Furman. "So the original project brief was less about bedrooms and bathrooms, and more about the character of the home. Specifically, the shape. Casey had an image in his mind of a house he had photographed early in his career in a wooded area of Maine. The house was a basic shape—as one would draw as a child—just a box with a gabled roof." The home's simple gabled shape is emphasized by the use of burnished stucco on all sides.

With both an aging relative and a wheelchair user in mind, architect Neal Schwartz creates a family guesthouse designed to be accessible to all. Resident Elizabeth Twaddell enjoys the weather with her daughter Uma outside the guesthouse Schwartz designed for her mother-in-law, Surendra, who frequently visits for extended stays. A concrete driveway forks off from the main house to lead to a covered breezeway, sited between the new 775-square-foot structure and a two-car garage.

The ADU has its own entrance from the lower street, with the primary residence on the upper hill.

The Bigelows’ house throws a nod to its midcentury modern neighbors with its subdivided plan and shallow-pitched roof. The three pavilion layout was also partly in response to tough city restrictions regarding the removal of the various beech and redwood trees on the property. However, the Butler Armsden design team was able to use the profusion of trees to their advantage, creating lines of sight to foliage from almost anywhere in the house. The exterior features locally reclaimed redwood siding that provides another connection with the redwoods on the site. The stucco is painted in custom color-matched Benjamin Moore paint.

The rear facade is a surprisingly modern counterpoint to the traditional front. Here, traditional brick is traded for modern stucco.

Windows and glazing were one of the largest overall costs, setting Geo and Zoe back €10,306.

Designed by Boston-based firm ZeroEnergy Design, this family home "consumes approximately 85% less energy than a comparable home built to the current energy code," says Stephanie T Horowitz AIA, Managing Director. "The energy savings are accomplished through a super-insulated building enclosure; airtight construction; efficient heating, cooling and ventilation; and a solar array on the roof." White stucco, shiplapped wood siding, and fiber cement panels adorn the exterior. The landscape architect was Soren deNiord.

“I knew it would be good,” says Trey of the primary bath, where sunlight washes the Tadelakt plaster in the tub and shower area. “I didn't know it would be this good.”

The rebuilt “Idea House,” designed by Holly Freres and David Horning of JHL design. The driveway is permeable to encourage good drainage: crushed granite gravel is installed over a stabilization mat. James Hardie exterior siding is painted in Benjamin Moore ‘White Dove,’ with reclaimed wood used for the entry and garage.