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The home is mostly clad in black trapezoidal-profile steel, with cedar boards lining what the owners call the “human spaces”—external passages between buildings. A solar hot water system perches on the roof.

Linus, Archie, and Olive relax on the home’s cedar-lined front deck that opens off the main living area.

In this Portland home, design firm Made arranged individually carved white-oak planks in a geometric pattern on the ceiling that repeats itself throughout the house. Beat Light pendant lamps by Tom Dixon hang above a custom dining table, also by Made.

The brass sculpture on the gray basalt tile floor is by André Bloc.

At an idyllic home designed for an artist, architect Michelle Linden designed a gravel path leading to the front door that passes through firewood storage and the central courtyard. The firewood is stacked high on either side, so that one can pick up the firewood on their way inside.

"I went on my first trip to Norway in 1996," Schluchtmann says. "The landscape and the light left such a strong impression on me that I decided to give up my law studies and to go to Berlin to become a photographer."

With their matching peaked roofs, every cabin nods to the traditional form of countryside retreats. The cluster’s pine cladding has been treated to speed up the aging process, giving it a warm patina.

Wynants grew up sailing, and he created the piece to suggest “a moment of togetherness...the way one might gather at the back of the boat, to talk and drink.” A side view of the house captures a glimpse of what he calls “the monolith.”

A maple tree grows through an ipe deck in this garden that Mary Barensfeld designed for a family in Berkeley, California. A reflecting pool separates it from a granite patio, which is furnished with a Petal dining table by Richard Schultz and chairs by Mario Bellini. The 1,150-square-foot garden serves as an elegant transition from the couple’s 1964 Japanese-style town house to a small, elevated terrace with views of San Francisco Bay. Filigreed Cor-Ten steel fence screens—perforated with a water-jet cutter to cast dappled shadows on a bench and the ground below—and zigzagging board-formed concrete retaining walls are examples.

On a trip to Naoshima, Japan, the Houston newlyweds behind Robertson Design fell in love with Tadao Ando’s concrete-composed museums. This led the couple to create a residence of their own comprised of a low concrete wall, concrete cube, and box clad in Siberian larch. The indoors are rounded out with white oak, marble, and leather-finished granite.

A palette of stone, concrete, and greenery greets guests at the home’s front entrance.

A third-floor courtyard stands in for a backyard and gives Elodie, the couple’s two-year-old daughter, a place to play outdoors. A Hunting chair by Børge Mogensen shares the space with a child’s chair by Tomii Takashi and a vintage Danish coffee table.

The Third Wave Kiosk opened on the shores of Torquay, Australia, in 2011. Photo by Rory Gardiner.

“I wanted to do a house that belonged on the site,” she says.

A fully functional concrete skate bowl plays a quintessential role in the layout and movement of the space. With walls lined with custom art by South African street artist Jack Fox, the playful quality of the space is achieved.

The bar was built to complement the skate bowl with a design that would work in tandem with it. A black Smeg refrigerator and surfboard rack are just a few inclusions that contribute to the overall industrialized look. Going a step further, a 4.5-meter-long timber bar created from ground and polished concrete was designed to match the flooring seamlessly.

The 484-square-foot room offers a cool respite from summer sun and a warm place to relax in winter.