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A little cottage in North Carolina is furnished with a cluster of wood-stump end tables by Urbia, two Eames rockers, and a 16-H wood-burning stove by Stûv. Scaly Mountain, North Carolina Dwell Magazine : September / October 2017

The cabin has charcoal-colored metal siding and a punchy yellow-green front door for contrast.

Photo by Aldo Lanzi

We'll be continually working on the landscape, keeping it as natural as possible,

This single-family residence in Bloomfield, Michigan, known as the Treehaus, embodies the iconic style of midcentury modernism. Thanks to a thoughtful renovation, this rare dwelling has been restored to its original state of refined elegance.

Large windows, doors, and a skylight flood the guesthouse and studio with plenty of sunlight.

To turn a home into a permanent residence for a family of four, Rama Estudio attached a prefab glass-and-steel box that extends into the surrounding wilderness.

Perkins & Will designs a mountaintop Passive House that takes energy efficiency to the next level.

The design team avoided using carbon-heavy materials (like concrete and steel) wherever possible.

A design dream team connects a 1980s dwelling to its spectacular site in Paradise Valley, Arizona

After the home was assembled, a local contractor built the outdoor concrete patio and barbecue on site.

The owners built the house as a place to gather with their three adult children on Loon Lake, where they had vacationed at the husband’s family home for years. The modern Adirondack chairs are by Loll Designs.

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.”

A floor lamp nearly eight feet tall anchors the seating area in the living area. Ceilings that are 12 feet tall at the highest point help the room feel expansive. “We needed to find a way to define different areas in a relatively tight space,” Lachapelle says. It’s the clients’ first experience with an open floor plan. “We raised our kids in an old Victorian, and the farmhouse we live in now is chopped up into tiny rooms save for the studio we just added,” the husband says.

Over 1,700 square feet of steel decking wraps around the elevated home.

The house is clad in Siberian larch and has a standing-seam Galvalume roof. Landscape architect Karin Ursula used native plantings to help the land recover from construction. The gravel put down in lieu of new soil will gradually fill in with plants as leaves decompose and produce a layer of soil.

Homeowner and surfer Christopher Hansen envisions a secluded oceanfront retreat that lets him keep an eye on the waves.