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An outdoor shower extends off the main bathroom.

A solar array (on the left-hand side of the photo) powers the lights and outlets (and laptops) during the day.

Setsumasa Kobayashi reclines on a striped wool blanket from his 2010 'Horse Blanket Research' line.

Setsumasa and Hideaki toss on the rain fly. The solar panel in the foreground supplies daytime electricity.

The wood stove is the Rondo model by Rais.

In the entry, a high interior window borrows light from the bedroom wing and a woven wood screen in the kitchen lets the owners see who’s at the front door. Kalon Studios crafted the bench from a single ash log. “It will split a bit over time,” Lachapelle says.

DeNiord designed a simple concrete bench with a honed top to run parallel to the randomly sized concrete pads that lead to the covered entry. He planted blueberry bushes behind the bench and a river birch tree behind the boulder. To conjure a wabi-sabi feel outdoors, diNiord poured concrete around a boulder. “It represents the interruption of perfect geometry,” he says.

DiNiord collaborated with craftsman Ken Hood to design the concrete bench with firewood storage and detachable wood back. Douglas fir columns along the walkway creates a colonnade. The mono-sloped roof is a nod to the long roofline of the original house that stood on the property. “Reducing the angles also reflects the strictness to budget,” the wife says.

A wood-clad garage sits adjacent to the home.

The garage is an integral part of the architecture with its exposed wooden beams and large picture window. Natural light fills the interior, where a Genesis GV80 is parked. Preproduction model with optional features shown.

Porches and rolling glass doors draw in the river breeze to keep the home cool.

The single-story Vera plan

Architect Maggie Wylie of Point B Design Group designed a new multigenerational house for a couple in Austin, Texas, that would comfortably accommodate an older family member with late-stage Alzheimer’s in the near term and become a home they can expand for themselves and their children.

The use of consistent and contrasting flooring minimizes disorientation, and decks are accessed via zero-step thresholds. “More and more, I’m having talks with clients about flexible homes,” Wylie says. “They want homes that will work now and for future needs.”