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According to the listing, “Naturvillan's design language was based on following the tapered, pointed triangle-like tops of the conifers. The form gives, up close, a strong visual architecture with a very stable base directly on the mountain. The house then recedes with height where the house blends in among the treetops and harmonizes with the landscape, which from a distance gives a naturally pleasing humble impression.”

Toronto architect Gregory Neudorf creates a pristine and practical 400-square-foot dwelling with nautical storage below deck.

Icon unveiled their latest 3D-printed home, House Zero, at SXSW earlier this year. Designed by Lake|Flato Architects, House Zero explores new design opportunities for 3D printing in residential construction.

A band of clerestory windows provide plenty of natural light.

Project Name: Greenville Escape

A pair of Icelandic prefab pioneers deliver an efficient family home in Culver City. Building smarter is at the heart of everything designers Tryggvi Thorsteinsson and Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdóttir do. Whether they’re testing the limits of indoor/outdoor living or developing a prefabricated wall system that they hope will make traditional wood framing a thing of the past, the founders of the Santa Monica design studio Minarc are consumed with making structures stronger, lighter, and more efficient.

Conceived as an escape from city living, this 2,580-square-foot prefab comprises two primary and 11 secondary modules, while the 290-square-foot guest cabins consist of single modules craned into place atop concrete piers.

The home consists of three cottage-inspired forms that are connected by a more contemporary, flat-roofed central structure. “One of the main challenges was how to bring the competing aesthetics the clients desired—they sought a simple, historical vernacular architecture with a more contemporary aesthetic,” says architect Matthew Erickson.

“The atrium is the first place you enter,” says Leidner. “Traditionally, it’s a hardscaped area with some potted plants, but we wanted it to be more like a full garden, right in the middle of the house.”

For Paul and Shoko Shozi, a pair of retiring Angelenos, the goal was to shut out the neighborhood but bring in the sunny skies. Their new prefab home, the Tatami House, designed by Swiss architect Roger Kurath of Design*21, makes a central courtyard the physical, and maybe even the spiritual, center of the home. Because the Japanese maple in the courtyard had to be planted before the ipe deck was laid, Kurath designed a small removable panel to allow access to the tree’s base. The Shozis can pull up the bit of decking to tend to the tree and replace it when they’re through. And because the boards line up perfectly, only the gardener need know it’s there. From the kitchen and living room you’re well connected to the courtyard and the rest of the house.

Infused with traditional materials and aesthetics, this open-plan home in Japan strengthens the bond a young family has to nature and to each other.

This modern, glass-walled, weekend lake house in Austin is built around two massive oak trees. One is growing directly out of an ipe deck and through a dedicated hole in a Western red cedar overhanging roof, which doubly allows light to flood into the home.

The 34-foot-long Airstream Excella was gutted and renovated by Innovative Spaces in Santa Barbara, California.

In Sunnyvale, California, architect Ryan Leidner cracked open a 1962 Eichler with a crisp remodel flush with foliage. He replaced the home’s vertical plywood facade with one-inch strips of American red cedar set at two depths. The rhythmic slats conceal a garage door that swings open on a hidden hinge. At the entryway, two massive panes of frosted glass shimmer with light and shadow from the atrium inside. Homeowners Isabelle Olsson and Matthaeus Krenn stand out front.

Announcing: the winners of the 2021 Dwell Design Awards! We’re thrilled to share the projects that wowed our expert judges panel and our readers this year.

The primary living space of Unit 301 offers 2,500 square feet of light-filled loft space.

After years in the making, it’s finally time to meet TECLA—an eco-friendly model home designed in the likeness of a wasp’s nest.