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The two chairs in the feed room are family heirlooms that first belonged to Kelli’s grandfather. He had them in what he called his rest space, which referred to the small cabin on their family’s farm in Burleson County, Texas.

The bathroom is finished with a marble shower that complements the marble countertops in the kitchen.

The rule of working with standard material sizes required the architects to be both rigid and flexible. “If you know what’s out there, you can start working with those measurements, but you have to be flexible and adapt your living requirements you think you have in your head,” says Marambio. “At the same time, you have to work within the constraints. You don’t get one more meter.”

The pitched garage roof is topped with 14 solar panels, which provide much of the home’s electricity (though the couple sometimes switch on a generator in the darker winter months).

“It’s the biggest one you can get,” says Patrick Powers of the shipping container he revamped and moved to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Steel frames hold ample glazing, including a pair of custom 2,000-pound sliding doors.

Acapulco chairs sit on the adjacent deck. The windows are by Milgard and the glass sliders are by Western Window Systems.

The Climate Barn floor plan

Top 10 Black Gable Homes of 2020: A dramatic take on an archetypal shape, these pitch-roofed residences cut a striking figure.

The pool's long, rectangular shape mimics the verticality of the main living structure just beyond.

Floor plan of Witklipfontein Eco Lodge by GLH Architects

Set into the underlying wood frame, the Luna’s insulation is specialized for metal siding and helps to avoid overtaxing the dual ductless mini split unit provided with the home.

Spacious enough to serve as a tiny home, yet small enough to still maintain a tiny footprint—especially within the context of the western landscape—the Drake is ready for adventure.

For Gabriel Ramirez and his partner Sarah Mason Williams, following the Sea Ranch rules—local covenants guide new designs—didn’t mean slipping into Sea Ranch clichés. The architects love Cor-Ten steel, with its ruddy and almost organic surface, and they made it the main exterior material, along with board-formed concrete and ipe wood. The Cor-Ten, which quickly turned an autumnal rust in the sea air, and the concrete, with its grain and crannies, mean the house isn’t a pristine box, Ramirez says. His Neutra house “was very crisp and clean,” he says. “This house is more distressed, more wabi-sabi.”

The Sanctuary floor plan

Tall windows positioned along the inner walls of the perpendicular volumes overlook a peaceful courtyard.

A simple kitchen gives way to a vintage dining table, one of many pieces Zara and James found online. Sliding glass doors help bring the outside in.

Katz installed a layer of high-density foam under the rooftop garden to better insulate the house. "With the climate here, if you insulate the place well, you need very little energy to heat or cool it," he says.