Retreat

Vega Norge, Erik Kolman Janush

Prefab house in Muskö, Sweden

Nicknamed the Floating Farmhouse, this 200-year-old home inspired one former copywriter to delve into architecture as a living. Inside, renovator and owner Tom Givone mixes vintage and industrial decor. Photo by Mark Mahaney.

Owner Stacey Hill was instantly drawn to this shipping container’s existing blue color and chose to leave it unchanged. Architect Jim Poteet added floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to allow light in, as well as a cantilevered overhang to shade a window on the left side, which houses a small garden storage area.

Architectural designer Sebastian Mariscal and project manager Jeff Svitak created a house in Venice, California, for Michael and Tamami Sylvester. Known as Dwell Home Venice for its role as an exemplification of modern architecture, the house is an homage to indoor-outdoor living. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

Architect Tom Kundig’s assignment was simple enough: Build a tiny, Thoreau-like getaway for an Atlanta-based writer who owned ten acres on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. "The idea was not to clutter anybody’s thinking, especially a writer’s," he said. So he designed a 500-square-foot retreat that’s both womblike and open to its surroundings.

Girodo describes LEAPfactory’s architecture as being “molded according to the needs and stresses imposed by context.” In this setting, strong winds and snow loads are serious concerns. The shell’s composite sandwich panels and aluminum shingles ensure that the school can withstand the elements.

Chen + Suchart Studio used coated glass and stainless steel over thick, sandblasted masonry walls to reflect the shifting hues of the desert sky and rugged landscapes of the Sonoran Desert. The Staab residence was built on creating a sense of privacy, without obstruction of the views of the McDowell Mountains. While nestled in a suburban setting, the 3,000-square-foot abode offers a stark contrast in design and ethos to the homes around. In addition to its contemporary bend, the house was designed to take in a multitude of focal points from two different levels, allowing for both distant and local views.

The positioning of the home’s roof allowed for a double-height, north-facing wall with four matching windows and an accompanying skylight. “The house refers to rural houses: a sloping roof, completely coated by stone and with no eaves,” Vanotti says.

Architect Alfredo Vanotti sourced the home's stone exterior from the woods behind the property. “I believe that mountain architecture is an emblematic example of sustainable architecture,” he says.