Minimal design

The meditation room can also double as a guest room when the couple has visitors. Wide plank white oak floors throughout bring a softness to the cabin.

Seattle firm Wittman Estes designed this compact cabin floating above a meadow on Whidbey Island.

For more than 70 years, claims have persisted, without much evidence, that a home in Portland, Oregon, is a lost work by Frank Lloyd Wright. Regardless of authorship, the structure—a flat-roofed, cedar and glass ranch—endures as a sterling example of postwar American architecture. Its recessed entryway features panes of translucent glass.

Whether it’s cross-country skiing in the winter or trail running in the summer, the 330-foot home’s minimalist design encourages Catherine to be outside in the surrounding landscape throughout the year.

The firm’s founder and principal architect Sumiou Mizumoto stripped away the house’s side extension.

“The glass facade and expansive windows create a sense of spaciousness and depth, surpassing the actual living area,” the couple shares. “Privacy is fully maintained, granting us the freedom to revel in a newfound sense of space.”

Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP used 87 translucent bricks to reframe a family’s connection to nature and the city.

Each of the two bathrooms upstairs come with dedicated shower rooms and freestanding soaking tubs with panoramic views.

FMT Estudio gives a stark and dated dwelling a playful renovation that embraces the sunny climate with lush courtyards and a poolside veranda.

Most of the artwork that adorns the walls is also by Mike and Jewlsy. The framed palm fronds above the credenza, for example, are inscribed with the original deeds to Jewlsy's family home in Kerala, India, and are approximately 300 years old.

A more narrow window focuses the eye on tree trunks, creating an “abstracted view of the landscape,” says the firm.

The house was designed to minimally interfere with the hilltop vegetation, which is what attracted the family to the site.