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Aguahoja

In a 4,000-person village known for epic windsurfing vacations, Atelier Branco builds a striking courtyard home.

A view from the opposite end.

The home's archetypal form rises from the windswept caatinga, a vast stretch of flat, semiarid land where the northeastern tip of the country juts into the Atlantic.

Entirely prefabricated at Modscape’s factory in Brooklyn, the self-sufficient Tintaldra Cabin features six-panel construction with heavy insulation as well as low-E and double-glazed windows.

Architect Jesse Garlick’s rural Washington vacation home references its rugged surroundings. The steel cladding has developed a patina similar to the ochre-red color of bedrock found in the area.

Architect Oliver Lang and his partner, Cindy Wilson, created Monad, a multiunit prefab prototype in Vancouver.

A prefab home is any home that has been built, partly or fully, in a factory. The design may be fully preset, partly modified by the client, or completely made-to-order.

A section of the facade—a cross between a shoji screen and a barn door—slides open. Planter boxes contain edible varieties that fuel Mary’s culinary explorations.

The detached screened porch sits out in the landscape, not unlike a Japanese teahouse.

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.”

“Metaphorically, the cabin’s exterior is like a cut log,” Lane says. “The black-stained Western red cedar is the bark, and the Douglas fir siding under cover is the exposed wood once the log has been cut.” Beyond the house and native sod gardens, a meadowscape blends into the mature pine forest at the lakefront. “We wanted a woodland garden quality,” landscape architect Soren deNiord says.

Small, simple, yet fully functional, La Casa Nueva is an off-grid timber camper designed by Ecuador-based architect Juan Alberto Andrade. He created the dwelling as a personal retreat for himself and his partner, Cuqui Rodríguez, to travel throughout the country photographing various forms of architecture.

The goal was to be able to squeeze a full bathroom, kitchen, living room, storage, as well as a sleeping space that would accommodate a king-sized bed into the cabin's original tiny footprint.

The walkways provide access to the patio and the landscape beyond the property, offering views along the way.

The volumes that contain the living room and a guest bedroom were designed with roof terraces, and green roofs cover four of the other volumes.