Green Homes

Atop the footprint of a 1940s ranch house, architect Renée del Gaudio designs a family residence that intimately connects to its site.

After escaping over the years to Lake Huron’s Manitoulin Island, a pair of painters tap Solares Architecture for a sustainable pine-clad cabin.

Josh Manes Architecture imagines protruding and receding volumes to maximize solar energy and frame 360-degree views.

Plant Prefab raises the bar for green building with three Richard Pedranti Architect–designed dwellings that meet rigorous Passive House standards.

Packed with off-grid tech, the partially prefabricated Waterfall Residence soaks up stunning views of Carmel Valley.

Ninety minutes outside New York City, a young couple’s first house riffs on agricultural vernacular with a green twist.

From a carbon-negative cabin to a prefab farmhouse, these resourceful designs captivated readers this year.

With a leave-no-trace design, the prefabricated Majamaja Cabin by Littow Architectes draws visitors to a new eco-retreat at the water’s edge.

In Sagaponack, a sustainable-building magnate’s live/work Climate Barn provides a model for green construction.

Spanish architecture studio Mesura draws inspiration from the landscape and local vernacular to craft a rural retreat for a large family.

From IKEA to Emeco, a growing number of businesses are slashing waste by putting it straight back into production.

HANNAH utilizes salvaged materials, 3D printing, and robotic technology to create an otherworldly cabin in upstate New York.

eMZed Architecture construct a sustainable, durable, high-performance residence and office in Portland, Oregon, for $950,000—an impressive feat given the challenges.

Perkins & Will designs a mountaintop Passive House that takes energy efficiency to the next level.

Designed to amplify connections with the desert, a low-lying courtyard house nestles into the landscape.

This whimsical home is set in a forested cohousing community with 23 acres of hiking trails and a neighborhood garden.

The innovative Schoonschip neighborhood features 30 architecturally designed homes that all produce their own energy and use sustainable materials.

Kirsten Johnstone Architecture creates a sustainable home that blends into the landscape with a palette of rammed earth, concrete, and timber.

The Skyward Cabin in Prince Edward County, Ontario, offers up a remote locale for adventure-seekers.

The self-sufficient Courtyard House embraces the bush landscape in all directions.

Beating out a host of competitors, one Danish family left their home behind (it’s just down the road, really) to camp out for a year in an Active House, a green-home prototype...

Thanks to Los Angeles’s Small Lot Subdivision Ordinance, the developers of Auburn 7 were able to maximize their property’s potential.

When a family in Queensland, Australia, suffered the loss of a loved one, a tiny home became their ticket to financial freedom.

An architect designs a cost-effective home for his parents that allows for multigenerational living and responds to the harsh Texan climate.

Inspired by ancient ruins, Frankie Pappas crafts a green-roofed, brick guesthouse that connects deeply with nature.

Suzanne Shelton’s life work is making sustainable lifestyles attractive and accessible.

In Portland, Oregon, two adjoining six-story homes on a formerly run-down urban lot add to the neighborhood’s density and its green cred.

A young family embraces New Zealand farm life with a sustainable prefab home.

The Swedish furniture giant takes on self-sufficient living with a futuristic show home in Szczecin, Poland.

A hemp farm’s fields flow from the hills to the walls of a new prefab home by Practice Architecture.