Rocks

The five-foot tall fire pit rock is buried three-feet into the ground for stability.

A dry creek bed arranged beneath the glass corridor emphasizes its elevated positioning. The creek bed is composed of large native boulders and runs the length of the property.

Adrian Bueno and Yvette Leeper-Bueno sit on the simple platform porch that extends from the living room of their weekend retreat in Saugerties, New York.

“The multilayered approach to this house—the use of healthy materials, the prefab, the relation to nature—has definitely changed our practice,” says Laura Briggs, architectural designer.

The rear garden is filled with ferns, sedges, lowbush blueberry, and a poplar tree growing out of a rock face.

Assembled in just two weeks, this cedar-wrapped passive house near Woodstock, New York, designed by BriggsKnowles A+D, realized a couple's dream of rural living.

A path of restored rock ledges leads to a dry creek, amphitheater, and private gathering space.

A new pool house is nestled in a hill in the wooded setting.

The pool house was designed and built to mimic the main house, so they feel like "a family of structures," says Porter.

Sleeping Cabin rain chain and rain garden.

Sleeping Cabin at dawn.

Entry drive to the new Sleeping Cabin and remodeled Long Cabin.

Sleeping Cabin arrival.

Sleeping Cabin at sunset.

“In every season, in every setting, it’s beautiful,” says Emilie.

The organic placement of the windows echoes the knots on the trunks of the surrounding trees.

Architect Johan Sundberg looked to Japanese architects like Kengo Kuma for inspiration for the design of a holiday home in southern Sweden. "We call it the Katsura typology, but that's probably sacrilegious," he says. The eaves of the gently sloped hipped roof extend generously in all directions, turning the deck into a covered retreat that’s part veranda, part engawa, the Japanese version of a porch.