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Architect Line Solgaard, founder of the eponymous Oslo- and Fredrikstad-based firm, designed a getaway for her family in the place where she grew up. Untreated, exposed concrete pairs with cedar cladding; custom, oak-paneled ceilings; and a glass roof in the center of the home that opens like a sunroof for natural ventilation.

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.”

Before: The 1964 house in North Vancouver had a band of clerestory windows that attracted architect Rafael Santa Ana and production editor Megan Paris-Griffiths when they first found it a decade ago.

One of the villa's drawn plans

The modern dwelling incorporates its woodsy-yet-urban surrounds through copious glazing.

Punctuating a hallway with light was among the clients' few requests for the house. EFFEKT achieved it through a panel of glass that highlights a swath of greenery.

Amagansett Modular House by MB Architecture