Tile

Photo by Johner Images.

Each CABN model is made of a timber structure that sits upon a steel-frame foundation.

The owners wanted a pair of stairs leading to the bedrooms.

The shower accesses an exterior deck via a door. “You're basically showering in the trees,” says Waterfield.

Located in La Unión, a city and commune in Chile’s Los Ríos region, Refugio 3x3 is set in a forest on the side of a new lot of residential houses that were built in response to the recent expansion of city limits.

Floor Plan of Butterfly House by Oliver Leech Architects

Madison points out that the pod concept would make it easy to add an extension if necessary. “We see it as a house that can grow with us—and that we can pay for as we go along.”

Heath Ceramics gifted the firm the ceramic backsplash tile.

In this Palm Springs duplex, for cabinet doors, the architect owner designed aqua blue plywood sliders that park at specific positions, fitting together like puzzle pieces. Contractor Franklin Pineda custom-built these cabinets using Baltic birch plywood from Anderson Plywood.

The home is clad in corrugated iron coated with Zincalume. “We chose the cladding so we could curve the metal sheets and create barrel vaulted roofs,” says architect William Samuels. “The finish gives a natural reflection to the surface of the house, picking up on the colors of the surrounding bush and the changing daylight.”

The overall home is constructed with larch timber, a British wood, and features a central ridge beam that gives it a butterfly-shaped roof. Shou sugi ban was done on the wood to give it a charred finish.

Located on a windswept site, this one-bedroom retreat is built to withstand the rigors of rural life, and it can be adapted to sleep up to six guests.