Modern Residential Architecture Rebels

The client's were motivated by sustainability as well. As the Aixopluc writes, "They'd rather spend money on the climatic qualities of their home than on enriching the big companies that control the energy business" by paying large gas or electric bills. The two firms cite the openness of the Case Study homes as an inspiration for the lower floor; the upper floor draws from Le Corbusier’s 1954-56 béton brut Maison Jaoul.

The folding doors leave the lower level totally exposed. A light steel frame structure kept construction simple and economical.

A wide cut across the top of the structure made room for a second-floor courtyard where the family can catch some sun but maintain their privacy. On the ground level, the front door is tucked into an ivy-covered alcove lined with ipe, a material used throughout the house.

Byron Mouton and girlfriend, Julie Charvat watch the world go by, New Orleans style.

A view of the Zimple Street house from the Mississippi River levee, designed by Byron Mouton and his colleague Don Gatzke.

Familiar building elements applied in unexpected ways and a strict rectilinear palette help unify the two building forms. The scale is just right for creating cozy outdoor rooms.

Tom Givone’s clients, Rose and Steve Smith, teach overseas and have owned their house for 26 years. They intended to fix it up slowly and retire there. As one problem led to another, they reached a point when they felt their only option, as Rose put it, was to “burn it down.”

London based photographer, Ed Reeve used dark cedar to achieve his lifelong goal: to build his own house on a perfect plot of land located in De Beauvoir Town. Photos by: Ed Reeve

Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton behind their London home.

The house’s street-level entrance shows an openness to its surroundings, and a glass door allows curious passersby a glimpse of the interior. Read more about this light absorbing home here.

"The structure is simple and straightforward, with nothing hidden," says Baker, "but I made all of the beams and columns as thin and understated as possible, inside and out, so the feeling is delicate rather than monolithic."

Turning its back to the street and next-door apartment like a curled-up cat, the long, narrow house spills out sideways to the garden, designed by landscape architect Andrea Cochran.

Ingrid Blans and Tjibbe Knol relax outside their home, which is made of various recycled materials such as dismantled cable reels, old billboards, and broken umbrellas. Inside, a vintage shop display case exhibits a small fraction of the couple's collection of art and objects.

Villa Welpeloo in Enschede, the Netherlands, doesn't look like a recycled building. Its austere lines and spacious interior have nothing of the junkyard aesthetic about them. Yet despite appearances, it's reused to the bones. To accomplish this, architects Jan Jongert and Jeroen Bergsma reversed the typical order of the design process—first house, then materials—and instead began by scouting the local area for items to recycle.

Locally sourced white cedar camouflages the home’s exterior. Bernier and his team installed weatherproofing behind the vertical wood panels, which vary in width and thickness, as a means to hide the molding and trim that are usually visible on traditional wood structures. From a distance, the home looks like a palisade that follows the shape of the terrain.

This 1920s four-story brick home in the Rock Creek neighborhood of Washington, D.C., fits into the neighborhood with a row of conservative homes, but the back presents a more unique facet—a line of windows, and a series of glass boxes jutting out from the main house. Inside is equally unique with unconventional forms in wall panels, deep window frames, and built-in shelving, all made from plywood.

Though they give the appearance of bent plywood, each curved layer of this ribbed staircase's corridor was constructed with flat, laminated cutouts, including the rounded hand rail.

Two Black Sheds incorporates all the conventional aspects of a weekend retreat in a rather unconventional way.

The front of the 1910 house belies the modern extension architects Doug Skidmore and Heidi Beebe created to extend the family’s living space.