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The house is well equipped for weather conditions in an area known for intense winds and heavy snowfall during the winter months.

All of the door and cabinet hardware, lighting, appliances, plumbing, and accessories are black to create consistent pops of depth and definition throughout the interior.

Evoking shou sugi ban, the cedar exterior has a Benjamin Moore Arborcoat stain.

Intrigued by the "smart, simple things" being done with modular housing, Will Arnett tapped architect Suchi Reddy and prefab company LivingHomes to design a house that merges the best of on-site and factory construction. The "Arrested Development" and "LEGO Movie" actor’s new home, completed in 2017, faces down a verdant canyon in Beverly Hills.

Natural materials were selected as much for tactile delight as for health and environmental benefits.

The butterfly roof adds a joyful kineticism to the exterior while creating practical angles ideal for solar panels and rainwater collection.

Long and low, the Ochre Barn began its life as a threshing barn in the 1850s.

"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."

Real Cedar is a natural cladding material with low embodied energy that is sourced from sustainably managed forests. While other, synthetic building materials emits carbon, western red cedar stores carbon from the atmosphere.

“We love to cook, so having the kitchen and living room open to each other allows us to be social while preparing meals,” says homeowner Andrew Noseworthy.

The breezeway—playfully called the Monocular—separates the two buildings, links the outdoors with indoors, and provides a portal to the impressive water view. It can be closed off for security with a large, barn-style red door.

The entire home is clad in Western Red Cedar siding, imbuing the built form with a rich warmth that responds to the natural surroundings while also making a striking design statement.

In Darby, Montana, just steps from the Bitterroot River, John Shoemaker and Greg Case built a home base for their fly-fishing group vacations.

Lockers are conveniently located along the deck to provide storage for fishing gear and items.

Designed by Minneapolis firm Lazor/Office, the structure is contemporary but evocative of the past. “We took the classic Montana barn and played around with it to find other geometries within that silhouette,” says firm founder Charlie Lazor.

A long guardrail, made from trees felled to clear the property, doubles as extra seating.