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A newly expanded window over the atrium allows glimpses of the surrounding neighborhood.

A wall of bamboo adjacent to the atrium floor provides a dramatic and seductive green entrance—“natural art,” Eric calls it.

To create privacy, the residents opted to keep the family room separate from the other living spaces. The sofa, chair, and rug are from Room & Board.

Because the house is located in a historic area, the exterior updates were limited to new windows and ipe cladding around the front door.

A more formal dining area can be found just steps from the kitchen in the glass-wrapped atrium.

A poured-in-place concrete sink and a wall-hung toilet offer a note of luxury in the bathroom.

Rumor has it that these old L.A. bungalows were built by silent movie studios to house visiting filmmakers.

The below-grade kitchen/dining room opens to a sunken wood porch. Sliding glass doors and an operable awning window from Fleetwood provide natural cross ventilation for cooling. The site is located in a forested area but is “brighter and less sequestered than you’d expect,” says David, thanks to the surrounding Sea Ranch commons.

The amount of time Melody and Bob spend at Adelaide “ebbs and flows,” says Bob, depending on commitments in Nashville, where he works on projects and Melody owns a salon and bathhouse. “When we’re here, we make amazing food, swim, goof off, and go for walks,” says Melody. “We walk the whole loop of the property.”

Floor Plan of Mantiqueira Refuge by AMFB Arquitetura e Interiores

Highly-durable furniture was chosen for the upper deck's sitting area, which routinely hosts sunset parties.

A cement wall feature in the primary bedroom contrasts the green trees that the bed faces.

The bathroom features the same dark-wood palette as the rest of the home.

To maximize function, the living room's Brazilian-made sectional can be transformed into two separate beds for guests.

On the entrance deck, a hand-crafted wooden couple welcomes visitors. The U-shaped deck surrounds the entire lower level.

In this Australian project, a resort-worthy swimming pool sits beside the industrial-chic kitchen and living area. It's a joy to swim in, of course, but the body of water also provides evaporative cooling for the courtyard.

Daniela and Francisco are a psychologist and engineer by day (respectively), but they’d almost always rather be outdoors. They’re avid hikers and passionate about sustainability, so when they had the chance to build an off-the-grid vacation home on a rustic lakeside patch of land in Southern Chile, they jumped on it.

The house is completely off grid. It operates on solar panels, wood-fire heat and water from the lake; there’s even a compost sewage system.