Red

An upper-level media room.

The garden effortlessly integrates the outdoors into the living space.

From the street, a discrete metallic wall features two green steel doors on either side.

Floor plan of Sparrow by Samantha Mink

Renovated from a 1940s ranch-style home, with many of the original materials used in the reconstruction, the homeowners love the self-reliance afforded by generating thermal energy and their rooftop garden. Photo: John Clark

The kitchen looks out onto a broad patio and backyard through floor-to-ceiling glass, while the upstairs balcony provides shading to allow in only diffuse daylight.

The driveway has a permeable surface.

The whitewashed interior uses a limited palette of finished surface materials.

Floor Play Subverting the traditional, conservatively cozy British barn conversion, Carl Turner created a getaway in rural Norfolk for himself and his friends to visit, repose, and consider the beauty of agrarian minimalism. In the converted barn, a modern fireplace with a sleek, shiny chimney contrasts with the wide, reclaimed wood floorboards and textured exposed brick wall.

In the kitchen, glossy white MDF and quartz countertops allow for maximum light reflection, as do the white walls and ceilings. The stools are from Zone Maison.

One family in Seattle, Washington, looked past a sloping landscape and saw the opportunity to build their dream home. Resembling a modern-day metal treehouse, the Hale and Edmonds residence is nestled within the edges of a wooded park. The house’s exterior of paneled grey is perfectly balanced against the accent of the orange frame, proving that there’s a chance for subtlety with the bright color.

The main rooms include an art nook.

Sam Shah and Anne Suttles asked architect Kevin Alter to renovate their 1920s bungalow in Austin, Texas, and add an addition, which contains a living area downstairs and an office upstairs. They tucked an office nook under the stairs; the Eames chair is a hand-me-down from Shah’s father.

The resident, a Tokyo transplant, commissioned architect Tadashi Murai to create a fully-equipped structure that comes with its own power, heating and cooling, water, and waste-disposal systems.