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Living, dining, and kitchen spaces flow into one another in the soaring great room. Here, the Sacramento firm placed new, polished concrete slabs over the original ones to alleviate unsightly cracks.

Achieving such efficiency and maintaining the integrity of the wetlands and woodlands on the property meant more research for both the designers and the resident—just getting approval for the siting of the buildings and the driveway took eight months—but Hague is hardly one to do things half way. “A lot of times couples engage in house-building, like birds. I'm doing this solo, more like a monk,” he says of the deeply personal undertaking.

A wood-burning stove from Harvia, of Finland, heats the sauna. The pavilion’s rough-cut pine walls are treated with tar, a preservative that yields a time-worn aesthetic.

The kitchen and dining space lead to a sunken lounge anchored by a fireplace built with stone from Sydney-based provider Eco Outdoor. Art by Bobby Clark hangs above a sofa from HK Living accented with pillows from Città Design. The rugs are from Armadillo & Co.

Rocks dug up during construction were saved and incorporated into the poured-concrete floors and walls. Hydronic heating coils in the floor are augmented by a wood stove during the damp winters.

The clients enjoy boating and kayaking and often utilize the site’s direct water access. “There’s a boathouse at the bottom of the site, so we’ve tried to clean the view up,” says architect Fraser Mudge of the framing. “We also controlled the height of it a little bit to frame the beauty of the water and the National Park, rather than the sky.”

The concrete-and-steel home by Faulkner Architects gives one family a refined escape in the mountains of Northern California.

Thompson, a founding principal of Assembledge+, had recently participated in a Los Angeles Magazine project to imagine solutions for those who lack housing in the city. Their notion was for public agencies to subsidize building ADUs in backyards along alleyways, dovetailing with existing alley revitalization initiatives

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.

A special finish brings out the grain in the kitchen's walnut cabinetry.

Perched just above the edge of the Narrows, the house is an ideal place to live surrounded by the wild beauty of Ketchikan.

“We definitely wanted to preserve the character of the home and make sure that it always fits the neighborhood,” says designer Jenny Bassett. To that end, the team kept the front façade intact, only repainting and adding new landscaping. The fireplace in the living room was also retained, so wood is stored in the front yard for easy access.

The sleeping area, outfitted with a California king-size bed with a built-in headboard made from Baltic birch, showcases expansive views of the mountain landscape, connecting guests to nature.