Small & Perfect

The timber-clad cabins at Find Sanctuary in Big Bear, California, were devised to help urban professionals manage stress anxiety.

Architect Matt Wittman’s upbringing in rural Washington nurtured a respect for functional buildings that worked with their surroundings: a utilitarian perspective that would inform his Seattle-based studio’s modular home system. “While prefab houses are sometimes divorced from their context, Puzzle Prefab can be modified according to each site,” Wittmann says. “This system has the ability to create spaces that can expand or contract for a variety of environments, whether remote, suburban, or urban.”Architect Matt Wittman’s upbringing in rural Washington nurtured a respect for functional buildings that worked with their surroundings: a utilitarian perspective that would inform his Seattle-based studio’s modular home system. “While prefab houses are sometimes divorced from their context, Puzzle Prefab can be modified according to each site,” Wittmann says. “This system has the ability to create spaces that can expand or contract for a variety of environments, whether remote, suburban, or urban.”Architect and Majamaja cofounder Pekka Littow designed a seaside retreat in Finland to showcase the potential of self-sustaining homes. The first cabin was built in 2020, and there are now four along the archipelago outside Helsinki. Prefabricated elements like vertical wood cladding and crisp gables allow the cabins to be dismounted with minimal impact on the landscape.

The fully furnished Scandinavian-style home comes with a firepit and easy access to the Cascade River.

A Nova Scotia couple learn that although triangular homes may look simple, they can be devilishly complex.

MoreDesign took this 19th-century structure down to the studs and rebuilt it with reclaimed stone, lime mortar, and locally made fixtures.

With its large covered porch and glazed walls, the Beaver Creek Cabin frames the forest like a picture.

Builder Nick Maimone drew on his artistic background and the ’60s counterculture movement as he reenvisioned a home set where the Russian River meets the Pacific in Northern California.

“Initially, we proposed fewer glass panes to control sunlight and energy loss,” says architect Daniel Iragüen. “But in the end, we made the house almost completely transparent.”

The flat roof and low-lying, horizontal form is discretely nestled below the treetops, adding an additional layer of privacy.

Situated underneath the wood ceiling, the upper-level apartment’s living room is elevated by a petite, functional kitchen.