Windows

The exterior walls of the Bercy house are constructed with Thermasteel, panels made from galvanized steel and a unique resin that provide structural framing, insulation, and vapor barrier with an R-29 rating twice the required amount. “We have so much glass that we have to offset it by having very efficient ceiling and wall systems,” says Bercy. “We wanted movable glass walls instead of tiny little sliding glass doors that pop off their tracks all the time,” says Bercy. So he and Chen tracked down the double-glazed, insulated, six-by-nine-foot doors rom a company called Fleetwood. “They’re a little more expensive, but when you slide the heavy doors open, you’re making a profound gesture to leave the house and step outside,” says Bercy. The word “doorknob” isn’t used much around the house for the simple reason that there aren’t any. “We didn’t want to clutter the house up with traditional hardware,” says Bercy. Instead, they used pulls found in boats that lie flush when not in use so that the doors become hinged extensions of the walls—the idea being that the door disappears and the core appears continuous.

Exterior: Prefab Architecture by Sage Modern

Mountain View Residence

In 2009, Dwell editor-in-chief Amanda Dameron joined Jens Risom on his return to his 1967 prefab off the coast of Rhode Island, where he's been readying it for his family's next generation. The A-framed structure, shown here, is bordered by a low stone wall, an aesthetic element that appears throughout the land.

The Clark family residence in Raleigh, North Carolina, was designed around the Series 600 multi-slide window walls from Western Window Systems, a rarity in the southeast.

Expansive accordion doors join together in a sharp angle when shut, but when they’re open the crook competely disappears—as does the barrier between outside and in.

Those hammers and saws built a home for the family’s chickens, watched over by Apolo among outdoor furniture by Richard Schultz.

A custom rain-gutter system collects even slight amounts of precipitation in an underground cistern and distributes it to the yard. The Cor-Ten pivoting window is by Brian Linn of Vincent Designs.

side view with lift and slides onto stone terrace cliff

The Floating Farmhouse’s semitransparent addition has a roofline that matches the pitch of the original 1820s farmhouse. A porch, tucked under the side eaves, is cantilevered over a stream that runs through the property. Ikea loungers are illuminated from the interior by commercial gymnasium lights repurposed as pendant lamps.

Built by a crew of three, the home makes a virtue out of being unfussy and straightforward. The north-facing glass wall under the gable, with a triple-glazed facade, doesn't require shading or insulation. The quick-to-build structure—which consists of just structural insulated panels (SIB) made from OSB panels with a foam core, and a concrete floor that retains heat—doesn't include any complicated systems or require much maintenance.

Fresh air is important and 90 percent of the air that goes in your lungs is indoor air. Airmega makes sure that the indoor air you breathe is as clean as it can be.