Outdoors

The concrete wall behind the porch provides a backdrop for the wood stove and privacy from the road.

“Friends can use the screened porch for the day, like a cabana,” the wife says. The couple are also planning for teachers from High Meadow Farm to hold practices here. “People will be able to use the porch and have access to the lake while our family is also using the house,” the husband adds.

Pale-green tiles in the en suite bath match the curtains separating the bedroom from the study.

Lightweight hurricane flaps can be raised and lowered over screened openings to control air flow. “When you’re in the house and the flaps are open, it’s almost like you’re outside,” says Mark. The hammock is from IKEA.

The deck connecting the two buildings has an outdoor rain shower and a soaking tub, both part of the property’s gray-water system.

The living room connects to a lanai, blurring the divide between inside and outside.

Casa Tiny was designed as a two-person escape. But instead of being an isolated retreat, it has become a gathering place: “a space for experience, rather than a space for things,” says owner Aránzazu de Ariño. “We love sobremesa”—the post-meal time when people settle in to converse, drink, savor dessert. “It’s very Mexican.” At Casa Tiny’s table, cooking and working become “interrelated,” she says. “The idea behind the house is so powerful,” says her partner Claudio Sodi, that it “moves you to enjoy life and nature in a completely different way.”

The Raskinds upgraded the side yard by installing an outdoor shower, something that Rebecca Raskind feels is "having a moment right now." They also sourced tropical plants inspired by Bali for a vacation vibe.

"[Eichler’s] concept of indoor/outdoor living is inspiring," says the firm. "His developments were so ahead of their time and made modern living available to the masses."

Now a painted wood pergola frames an intentional seating area.

The homeowners were more than happy to get involved in any way they could, and they did their own landscaping on the weekends.

The couple had spent a lot of time in Palm Springs, as well as at Austin's Hotel San Jose, and they knew they wanted a pool to provide relief from the Texas heat. Ryan Lemmo sketched out the pool location so the couple could enjoy the live oaks and landscaping during their daily summer swims.

A blackened-timber pergola extends from the modern barn that architect Greg Scott designed for Jody and Deirdre Aufrichtig in the Elgin Valley, an apple- and grape-growing region near Cape Town. Made of narrow slats stabilized with randomly scattered blocks of wood, it covers roughly half of the outdoor deck.

Fields of native grasses connect the main residence, situated at the top of the slope, to the new structures scattered below. A pergola extends from the post-and-beam structure that was maintained during the remodel of the midcentury home.

The Babat residence in Nashville is blessed with a big backyard; however, the blistering Tennessee sun once made it feel more like a broiler than a place to kick back and relax. Enter architect Michael Goorevich—then on staff at Manuel Zeitlin Architects—who devised a wood-and-steel trellis to cover part of the space.

A level, trellised garapa-wood deck connects the main structure to the pool house. "The arbors near the pool knit everything together," says Mikiten. "The deck is constructed over a drainage pit so the wood surface can be completely flush with the interior floor and the surrounding yard, which is critical for a fluid experience by someone using a wheelchair."

Two art studios adjoin a central volume at this work/live residence built from terracreto (sustainable concrete), glass, and painted steel just outside of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Residents Austin and Lida Lowrey, retired design and museum professionals, collaborated with their two daughters—Sheridan, an artist, and Elizabeth, an architect—to design the structure as a place for creative contemplation.