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While the property comes with 76 deeded acres, hundreds of acres of crop fields also extend for miles around the home.

A clock engine sits next to Joshua’s Do-Nothing Machine in his workspace. A riff on the Eames Solar Do-Nothing Machine, the item attaches to a window “to make the world seem less boring,” Joshua says.

The dining area features a Roundish table from Maruni and Thonet 209 chairs.

The doors and windows are framed in plaster, which the owners formed, sanded, and finished themselves. The slightly uneven finish gives the home a handcrafted feel that contrasts with the sleekly finished timber work.

Turning a shipping container into a home is rarely as simple as it sounds, but design studio LOT-EK set out to prove that these vessels could become the raw material for an efficient prefab construction process with a house in upstate New York. Victoria Masters, Dave Sutton, and their daughter, Bowie, live in the six merged containers.

In the living room, the hemlock ceiling extends beyond the full-height glass walls, but not so far as to obstruct the panoramic views.

After finding paradise on a Hawaiian papaya farm, filmmaker Jess Bianchi and jewelry designer Malia Grace Mau tapped San Francisco artist Jay Nelson to design and build their dream home in just five weeks. Located just one block from the beach, the home takes inspiration from laid-back surf shacks and is mainly built with reclaimed wood.

The micro home in Warsaw that architect Adam Pszczolkowski designed for his family and friends features expansive windows framed by plywood and white-painted HPL panels. "I chose white because of its modern and timeless character," the architect says.

Established in 2009, Meka Modular ships its light-steel-frame modular units all across North America. Their Alp 320 unit starts at $72,000, which includes shipping and all interior finishes; $85,500 is an estimate that includes the foundation, roof, and assembly. The one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit covers 320 square feet, and exterior cladding options include corrugated metal panels and western red cedar.

A sleeping loft above the second-level office accommodates sleepovers with visiting grandchildren.

The second level showcases built-in cabinetry and an office area crafted from cedar.

As part of the built-in cabinetry beneath the stairs, Wilson included a pull-out bed that can be used by overnight guests.

Built-in cabinetry beneath the staircase provides extra storage space for the 1,024-square-foot home.

The front porch looks out on views of the surrounding hills and San Gabriel Mountains in the distance.

The window and door frames are mainly crafted from cedar. They sit within the curved shell, which has deep eaves that protect the interior from the sun and reference traditional Japanese architecture.

A small kitchen island sits opposite a rammed earth fireplace. “This home is a very delicate balance of materials and form,” says architect Tono Mirai. “My design concept is not to add anything extra, and I aim to construct earth walls in a very sophisticated and contemporary way.”

"When the clients first saw the fire in the rammed-earth fireplace, they told me it instinctively connected with them, and they felt calm," says architect Tono Mirai on the curved profile of this feature.

The walls are plastered using local earth. A skilled plasterer ensured that the curved walls and shell-shaped ceiling were seamlessly finished.