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The Outward Bound cabins, designed by the University of Colorado Denver's design-build program, have steel frames that lift the structures above a three-foot snowpack while supporting corrugated-steel "snow roofs."

The prefab design utilizes a pin foundation system that reduces the project’s carbon footprint by 77 percent, says Wittman.

The original layout was very much of the time: a perfect midcentury modern flow, with a closed-off kitchen and a fire put in the floor. “They were cool but impractical spaces,” says Schaer.

The organic placement of the windows echoes the knots on the trunks of the surrounding trees.

Go Home by Go Logic is a design/build firm that designs and constructs modular homes that stand out in the crowd: they're both modern and contemporary, but still harken back to the traditional architecture of farms and barns in New England.

While the owners really liked the idea of shou sugi ban, they opted for a more cost-effective black stain. The random-width, reverse board-and-batten siding reflects the wabi-sabi concept. “The builder said the math for the random siding was torturous,” the wife said. “We didn’t know how hard it was to make things look simple.” DeNiord planted hay-scented fern and lowbush blueberry sod around the house. “We didn't want any side of the house to feel unconsidered,” he says. As for the local boulders he placed around the house and terrace, he says, “They give the feeling that the house grew up around the outcroppings.”

In February of 2007, two San Francisco art and travel addicts purchased a 3,200-square-foot former Chinese laundry and tooth-powder factory with column-free interiors and a zigzagging sawtooth roof in lower Pacific Heights. They customized a pair of shipping containers to accommodate their collection and reflect their passions, and hired a local company to sandblast the interior to expose the board-formed concrete walls and replace the carpeted floors with Georgia hickory pecan planks to further lengthen the loft and make it look more like a warehouse.

This single-family residence in Bloomfield, Michigan, known as the Treehaus, embodies the iconic style of midcentury modernism. Thanks to a thoughtful renovation, this rare dwelling has been restored to its original state of refined elegance.

Amagansett Modular House by MB Architecture

Photo by Deborah DeGraffenreid

The Franks House is a well-preserved midcentury time capsule nestled on a tree-filled lot in prime Crestwood Hills. Designed by Raúl Garduno in 1966, the two-bedroom home boasts floor-to-ceiling glass walls that effortlessly frame 180-degree views of the skyline and the Pacific Ocean.

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