Haiku House

The home’s three low-lying rooflines subtly emerge from the landscape.

The four-bed, four-bath home of Peter and Sarah Diamond and their two adult children is uniquely situated in one of the most remote areas of the Berkshires: Mount Washington, Massachusetts.

This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.

When closed, the screens blend in with the cedar siding.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing makes for a bright and airy living space and overlooks the exterior terrace.

The spa-like Japanese bath has a strong connection with the outdoors.

The villa as it fits into the local landscape.

Roof deck

Settled on a picturesque hillside in Somona, California, the Connect 5 residence features stunning floor-to-ceiling windows, which allow warm natural light to flood through the home.

Connect 5 backyard porch at sunset.

The corrugated exterior echoes an old, corrugated shed on author Cornelia Funke's Malibu property.

Pallas Altherma Smart siting and passive design laid the groundwork, but to approach the couple’s goal of making a zero-energy house, Arkin Tilt selected an Altherma air-to-water heat pump system by Daikin. “The technology has been around for decades in Europe,” Tilt says, “but this is one of the first installed in California.” The device draws heat from the air outside and uses it to warm water both for domestic use and to power the in-floor radiant heating on the ground floor and in the upstairs bathroom. Best of all, the electricity the system uses is offset by 24 photovoltaic panels by Sanyo on the roof. daikinac.com us.sanyo.com/sol...

Now UC It In the kids’ rooms, the couple has made fine use of UC Santa Cruz dorm furniture—beds, armoires, and desks have gotten a second life off-campus, and Tershy and Zavaleta report that after enduring years of freshmen, the pieces ably stand up to their kids. Outside the upstairs office, an old couch holds court on a small balcony with great views to the south.

Salvage Garden Driftwood that Tershy, Zavaleta, and the kids spent years collecting from local beaches makes up the pickets of the backyard fence, a pillar outside the front door, and the railing on the upstairs hallway. But it’s a Pacific madrone that puts a rustic exclamation point on the interior. The tree fell on a friend’s land, and the couple, after hauling the best boughs into town, turned it into the centerpiece of the double-height dining room.

Straw Dogs “Straw is basically a waste material,” says Tilt. “Farmers used to burn rice straw, but now they’re baling it up to sell, which takes tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.” It’s also a stellar source of insulation, both thermal and acoustic. With the guidance of structural engineer Kevin Donahue, Arkin Tilt, the couple, and a group of their friends and neighbors pitched in for a daylong “bale raising.” To minimize the straw’s volume within the walls (they used 150 bales), the architects tipped the bales on edge, placed them between structural wood I-joists used as posts, and finished them off with welded wire mesh and lime plaster.