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One side of the building contains two simple bedrooms and a bathroom. The other, larger side houses the open-plan living area, kitchen, covered deck with fireplace, and additional bedroom. The deck-hallway that runs the length of the building is partially covered, but the decking boards and inset fiberglass door panels allow air and light to penetrate. The architects wanted to suggest that moving between the different living spaces involved a trip through nature, as it does in traditional camping.

Designed for off-grid functionality out of necessity, the self-sufficient bach that Herbst Architects designed for their friend is a stellar getaway on New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island. Clad in cedar, the modestly sized abode embraces outdoor living and views of the Pacific Ocean.

To revive the original architects’ vision, studioWTA restored a four-foot roof overhang above a wall of La Cantina sliders. The shade helps limit solar gain, while a pool by Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture provides respite on sweltering summer days.

Upstairs, tenants and friends gather outside sculptor Chris Puzio’s apartment.

Architect Dave Strachan and the Unitec students designed and built the living room sofa and bunk beds. The carpet squares are by Interface.

Glass doors grant the bedroom an immediate connection to the water.

music studio / quarters

dinning/living

Grant Ellis has been the photo editor at Surfer Magazine for 13 years and lives in a quaint beach shack in Cardiff, California with his wife Julie, son Ethan, and daughter Kaia (shown here).

Framed family photos hang, clustered and skylit, in the corridor.

Eric Schneider and Michael Chen take in the space-efficient renovation.

The Coffou Cottage sits in an L-shaped configuration at the end of a private road. This image shows how red cedar is utilized to create thin slats along the facade, as well as horizontal and vertical board-and-batten siding.

Eric and Melinda purchased a 10-acre plot in rural Yelm, Washington, with visions of a new home on the range. There would be vineyards, gardens, an orchard, bees and chickens—typical country fodder—but they would showcase their design sensibility with a not-so-typical modern abode. Enlisting Matthew Coates of Coates Design, they ended up with a modern home that, while striking, is still a natural fit in the country location. Photo by Lara Swimmer.

The new, ecologically minded P.A.T.H. prefab prototype—designed by French designer Philippe Starck in tandem with the Slovenian prefab homebuilder Riko—was recently built for the first time at a test site in Montfort l’Amaury near Paris.