Green

A small box atop the home looks out onto a green roof, designed by local landscaping firm Toits Vertige.

The large patio leads to a newly landscaped back garden. An expansive glass wall promotes seamless indoor-outdoor living. Inexpensive brick pavers were chosen for the rear patio; they offer textural contrast with the steel of the door, brick of the rear facade, and pale gray wood of the interior floors.

Redesigning the cramped bathroom was one of the project’s biggest challenges. The original space had small and dated bath fittings, as well as intrusive plumbing pipework. The entire bathroom was taken down to the studs and pipes were redirected. The chimney was removed from the adjacent bedroom, increasing the available interior space. The tile floor in the bathroom is the only new flooring in the entire house.

Throughout the home, the original strip-wood floorboards were preserved and painted a soft, muted gray. The cool tones of the kitchen are punctuated by a bright yellow children's table by the bay window.

The superimposed images of the furniture look slightly surreal, as expected, but the ability to furnish a room with multiple items and choose from such a large array of brands makes it superior to the Home Depot’s similar app.

Covered with wire mesh, the green roof will continue to vegetate over time.

Reso Armchair by Skargaarden "Thin, wiry steel chairs are comfortable to sit in and work both indoors and outdoors," Hesser says. "This one is elegant—I love the fan shape of the back. You can imagine the Farm Table paired with either [the green or yellow chairs]."

This glossy avocado-colored kettle was made by a Japanese enamelware company who has been in business for over 70 years. Suitable for induction, gas, or electric cookers. $96

The Green School in Badung, Bali, Indonesia, by Effan Adhiwira, employs micro-hydro power, solar power, bio-diesel, and natural air conditioning; it was also constructed with 99% natural materials. Photo by Iwan Baan

Rainwater is collected from the rooftop of the Permanent Camping! Mudgee abode by Casey Brown, NSW, Australia. Photo by Penny Clay

"This is the Beauvoir House, located in Las Flores Canyon in Malibu," says Bruce Bolander. "The color was influenced by the color of the new growth on the chaparral that surrounds the house. The house and kitchen are both very small; the house is about 1600 square feet."

Frame light in Mint by Iacoli and McAllister. A powder-coated steel frame gives these spare pendant lights shape via negative space. Available in three sizes and six colors.

One of the main goals of the construction was to do as little harm as possible to the existing environment, which includes waterways that salmon depend upon. Herrin and his team created a garden roof that covers the full extent of the home to meet this objective. “This helps control storm water runoff and also replaces lost insect habitat—insects being a critical food source for juvenile salmon,” he says.

“We sought to create a house that would not damage the environment and not be too visible,” says architect Tina Gregorič. A single zigzagging roof stretches over 5,380 square feet, doubling the area of the interior spaces and serving as an ideal spot for sunset cocktails and whale-watching.

Rose sourced the green marble for an upcoming Park Avenue apartment from the same quarry used by Mies for the 1929 Barcelona Pavilion.

University of California, Merced Long Range Development Plan in Merced, California Ambitiously setting a goal for daylight access in 75 percent of the interior rooms (quite a feat for a large university building) is just the beginning for UC Merced’s long-range plan. By 2020, UC Merced plans to be the first zero-net-energy, zero-net-waste and zero-net-emissions campus in the USA. It will also help to preserve the surrounding 30,000 acres of vernal pool grasslands, the largest concentration of vernal pool grasslands in the world.

Resident Brian Whitlock saved some serious cash by taking on much of the construction and electrical work himself.

Green tea and a sweet for a guest.