Modern Masterpieces: 6 Great Homes in France

With the roof angled at 43 degrees, the architects lined the southern slant of the house with solar panels to collect as many rays as possible. Karanesheva and Witzmann started with four, but then added 23 more, all by Systaïc; the company gave them a deal since theirs was its first installation in France. The panels now collect far more energy than the home actually needs, a precious resource that the pair sells back to the power company. Photo by: Nicholas Calcott

Here's the new kitchen. H2O designed the table and benches, whose seats pop up to reveal hidden storage.

In the canteen, a communal table stretches through the center and smaller, more private tables dot the periphery. I love the contrast of the minimal furniture throughout the hotel, which stands up to the strong color scheme. "All the structures are made of birch plywood and I wanted to contrast the wood with colors because, for me, life is colorful," Crasset says. Photo by Simon Bouisson.

The Carré d'Etoiles, a system of cube-shaped hotel room units, combines luxury with the great outdoors all over France. Tourists can spend time in compact boxes with circular windows and domed skylights, enjoying the amenities of hotel and the stargazing of a camping trip. Photo via Treehugger.

Christophe Berdaguer and Marie Péjus named their building “Gue(ho)st House” after Marcel Duchamp’s aphorism “A guest + a host = a ghost,” which appeared on a piece of ephemera he made in 1953. The duo translated the artist’s wordplay into architect-ural form, and said: “A house is a place where the hosts and guests share spaces. This project is like a third person, who in this context, looks like a ghost.”