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Spruce and pine cladding echo the verticality of the tree trunks surrounding the cabins.

The window in the kitchen that overlooks the garden is intentionally free of any structure, with the small ventilation openings discretely located to the side. This ensures the view is uninterrupted and the woodlands become part of the interior.

The lush spaces of the Garden Room interweave plants into its organic form.

Tucked beneath a grassy roof covered by nearly 200 species of plants and grasses, the structure is virtually invisible from the nearby street. In fact, the 1,400-square-foot house is so well hidden in the earth that it doesn’t seem to register on the radar of local wildlife either. Birds, butterflies, bees, dragonflies, hawks, snakes, lizards, and frogs all treat the house like just another grassy knoll.

On the left, stairs over the sauna lead up to an elevated lookout on the right. Beneath it is the bathhouse.

The bedroom is elevated around five meters above the forest floor, and the space beneath has—like the green roof—been given back to the Bushveld. “Naturally, this space is shadier than the surrounding forest, so it creates a different microclimate for different species to flourish in that area,” says architect Ant Vervoort. “It’s an area that we have cultivated.”

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If you already have a projector, white sheets and some popcorn are all you need to create your own outdoor cinema. Alternatively, you can set up a backyard screening with a monitor, TV stand, and an extension cord.

Careful studies of the sun led to the distinct designs of each side of the chicken coop.

Daily Needs by the Belgian studio segers is a modular prototype that’s one part chicken coop, three parts urban farm, as it includes components for a raised vegetable bed, composting bin, and tool shed.

Doors drop down to collect eggs and clean droppings.

The UK-based firm Raskl Art + Architectural calls this a “luxury minimalist chicken coop.” Materials are Valchromat (Atlantic Plywood) and Iroko wood. The nesting area is denoted by an egg shape perforated into the façade with a CNC machine, and the roof lifts with the help of gas struts.

The Chicken Caravan was designed and built by Petersen & Gottelier for the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano to be a solar automated mobile chicken coop.

At the northern end of the Stockholm archipelago, a humble cottage becomes a gorgeous seaside retreat for a nature-loving family.

"It only cost about $48,000 to build, which was incredibly cheap," says Turner of the Stealth Barn. "We got the Timber Frame Company to supply the shell, then we clad it and fitted out the interior and windows ourselves. The idea was to take the archetypal black tar-painted agricultural building and make an almost childlike icon of that."

Designed by Montreal-based practice APPAREIL Architecture, Grand Pic Chalet is inspired by the colors and vertical lines found throughout the forest around the property.

Even as the square footage of this cottage in Fayston, Vermont, shrank in response to budget constraints, architect Elizabeth Herrmann remained focused on making the space feel warm and functional for a family of four and their dog and cat. "I think the trick to making small spaces feel much larger is to design the experience of being there,

Five cabins are located in the pine forest surrounding the main house. “The design for both the main house and cabins at Saltwater Farm resulted from studying traditional Pacific Northwest cabins and refining that vernacular language with one of Scandinavian minimalism,” says designer Taylor Bode.