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In southern Osaka, Japan, Horibe Associates designed a 911-square foot house that directs views outwards towards rice fields and woods beyond. However, at the center of the home is an open-air atrium with access from multiple rooms, creating garden-facing rooms that give a serene and nature-focused backdrop that changes with the seasons.

The weeHouse exteriors are clad in corrugated Cor-Ten, but with a custom pattern of folds to create an organic randomness. The foundations were designed with a shallow recess around the top to make the modules look like they’re hovering. After they bought the property in early 2014, the Siegels camped there for two summers while they saved up money and planned a permanent structure. In his research, BJ came across this design, a customizable prefab house by Alchemy Architects. "Of all the things that I found, I was drawn to that one because it was absolutely the simplest and cleanest," he says.

Who hasn't wanted to sleep inside an igloo? A modified take on the original ice version shows up in Finland—reportedly one of the best places to catch the northern lights. (Pin)

The Element House by MOS Architects stands on pylons, creating the illusion of it hovering over the desert floor. Nine thermal chimneys, one of which can be seen right, channel hot air out from the interior living areas.

@laceyuhle: Pod life

Designed for two women in their 60s, this collection of little huts make up a private home and a food service for the community.

Twilight Hues 1 by Mimi Jung, $4,900. Inspired by the Los Angeles atmosphere, the hand-woven textile captures fleeting twilight hues as they change from deep mauve to light pink.

Michael and Tamami brought greenery to the master bath courtyard, which is lined with Eco Arbor Designs deck tiles, in the form of succulents in a ceramic Peanut planter by John Follis for Architectural Pottery from Vessel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Burnette sought to maintain the property’s natural vegetation and rocky ground surface.

The home also features an elegant sauna—this is Finland after all.

Custom skylights by Berkeley’s DeFauw Design+Fabrication set above scissor trusses let in the sunlight.

Cutouts in the concrete slab floor allow for an indoor forest of taro, fig, and bamboo—and a subsurface drain connected to a perforated underground pipe slowly filters out excess moisture to the groundwater. The cabinets were custom designed by Nick Damner, while the refrigerator and dishwasher are by Thermador.

Gray Organschi took down a worn-out 1970s summer home and reinvented it as a serene pair of bleached cedar volumes connected by a glass bridge.

The positioning of the home’s roof allowed for a double-height, north-facing wall with four matching windows and an accompanying skylight. “The house refers to rural houses: a sloping roof, completely coated by stone and with no eaves,” Vanotti says.

View from the office courtyard to the entry courtyard that features a custom concrete bench

Breezeway to the primary bedroom beyond that opens up to the pool courtyard through a pocketing glass door

Custom whimsical glass sculptures created by Rainier Glass Studio and succulents highlight the courtyard of this curved house in central Phoenix