Favorites

The single-volume home has been designed to appear to float over the lot on its deck. Ryan upgraded the existing foundation to support its passive design. "Originally, I wanted to make the whole house powered with wood pellets," he says. "But I decided against shoveling pellets in the snow. I'll get weird in a little bit less of a cold climate."

Floor Plan of Jamestown Passive House by Shelter Residential

"The private terrace offers a restful spot for enjoying morning coffee, cultivating a garden, or simply gazing at the sky and forgetting the city below,

A long, winding driveway leads to the two-story residence, which sits nestled among soaring trees in a sunlit meadow.

“This home underwent a variety of updates, including restoration of the exterior, renovation of every interior space, and a new landscape scheme.”

In this living area, a built-in Murphy bed can be pulled down to create a flexible sleeping area when needed. This Murphy bed incorporates two small bedside nooks with built-in lighting.

Both the bedrooms have built-in wardrobes.

Jason and Laura Miller-Smith tapped Cover Architecture and EEK Studio to update their Buff and Hensman midcentury home with custom casework, ribbed glass, and a grand fireplace while staying true to the original plans.

A smoked glass cut-out forms a bar.

“We pulled apart one volume and staggered it along the buildable area of the property,” says architect Matthew Ahlberg of Portland firm Barrett Made. The home is clad in unfinished cedar, meant to weather over time.

As a standalone suite, the Moliving prefab can be tailored to its location based on the owner's specifications. The process can take as little as three months to complete.

After renting in San Francisco for a decade, DIY couple Molly Fiffer and Jeff Waldman bought 10 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where the pair and their friends built a cabin compound complete with sheds, tree decks, a pavilion, a wood-fired hot tub, an outhouse, and an outdoor shower. The cabin is made from locally sourced, rough-sawn redwood, which the couple stained with nontoxic Eco Wood Treatment to give the panels an aged appearance and a dark patina.

With a home for his family along the Mississippi River waterfront, architect Barry Yoakum aimed to achieve the highest standards of energy performance and carbon mitigation without compromising on design. A modern anomaly among its historically styled neighbors, “the house is a fresh, authentic approach to climate change but also a piece of architecture,” he says. Its Pac-Clad aluminum panels with Bone White Energy Star coating reflect light differently from minute to minute while reducing solar heat gain. “The house will age well over time,” says Barry, who expects the cladding to have a long life span.

The SuperBungalows development is 100% electric, including the kitchen appliances supplied by Fisher & Paykel.

The updated kitchen continues the white oak cabinetry and paneling from the sitting room, while new poured terrazzo floors throughout offer a durable, period-appropriate flooring solution. "I grew up in Malaysia, and a lot of the older homes have terrazzo tiles,