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The house is partially embedded in the hillside. Wooden supports are angled to suggest the surrounding trees.

“We’re always throwing events,” says Paul, so the indoor/outdoor style was a great fit for them.

The space was originally a dining room, but the first day they moved in, Josh and Matt decided to throw the floor plan out the window and reclaimed the space in the window for a conversation area, inspired by the sunken lounges of the 1970s. The cushions are crafted from recycled rugs.

This home's different roof heights required a customizable, flexible building component to make the drawings a reality.

Adair has long wished for Togo chairs, but as much as she loves the design, she tries not to be too precious about it. “We let the kids use them how they want, and they’re perfect fort furniture,” she says. “They’re really durable. It’s a design that makes architect parents happy.”

Villa Engels, the home of the esteemed Belgian modernist Lucien Engels (1928–2016), was falling apart when its second owners bought it in 2013. Yet due to its heritage status, any changes they planned would have to be approved by the provincial preservation office. Engels completed the elongated, cantilevered residence in 1958, the same year he finalized the master plan for Expo ’58, the Brussels World’s Fair that famously featured the Atomium.

“Genius loci is one of our approaches to sustainability,” says architect Benjamin Iborra Wicksteed. As a result of this approach, materials were sourced hyper locally—such as stones from the River Ter.

The passage that leads to the bedrooms doubles as a library, with large bookshelves and a reading window.

The earth bags used to construct the dome are plastered with an earth and straw plaster and painted with a homemade Swedish paint.

The experience of the farm includes to the permaculture vegetable garden, fresh farm eggs, interactions with the goats and horses, and hiking through a landscape populated by giraffes, zebras, antelopes, and warthogs.

The sunken living room is just one of many grade changes inside the structure. “We were adamant that we didn’t want something domestic,” says Andrew. “We wanted something surprising, that was hyper-animated, and that, when you moved through it, changed all the time.” The sofa, designed by the couple and Levenbetts, is upholstered in cotton velvet. The Habibi side tables are by Philipp Mainzer for e15, the fireplace tools by Fort Standard, and the doors by Fleetwood.

In Darby, Montana, just steps from the Bitterroot River, John Shoemaker and Greg Case built a home base for their fly-fishing group vacations.