The house may appear conventional at a glance, but a closer look shows how Oostenbruggen has pushed the boundaries of the traditional gabled typology. It has an asymmetrical roof, with slate shingles that extend down the eastern side to close it off completely.

Architect Christian Tonko played with a double metaphor when designing the Camera Lucida studio. The name of the cantileverd hillside space, Latin for "bright chamber," references the open window facing the valley below, as well as the skylight that bathes the workspace in natural light.

The house's ceiling was hewn from Douglas fir, which gives off a warm glow. The rafters were designed to emulate the look of strong ceiling beams.

The west side is clad with six shutters made of horizontal, western red cedar slats that can be opened or closed with a single movement. "We wanted it to be able to feel cozy when needed," Oostenbruggen says.

Light breaks through the bedroom's north wall through a vertical window that cuts from the floor up past the second floor mezzanine to the roof's ridgeline. The bed is custom.

Friends from Tonko's hometown of Bregenz, Austria, commissioned the studio when they acquired some land next to their home. They use it for drawing and sketching, as well as creating clay and gypsum sculptures that are later cast into bronze. Since the area is close to where he grew up, Tonko was incredibly familar with the view from the hillside.

Tiny houses are spreading across the world—and probably because it really just makes sense. The tiny home lifestyle is the ultimate application of creative resourcefulness, and allows residents to reduce their environmental footprints without sacrificing good design.

With one side of the house closed off, views are directed through the glazed south and west facades to the grassy clearing beyond. "We planted tens of thousands of blue bells and lots of rhododendrons," Oostenbruggen says of the green space. "The setting developed over time."

For consistency, the studio was inspired by the architecture of the main house.

What the original building lacked in period detailing, it made up for with massive interior spaces, natural light, and a hardy palette of wood and raw brick. Working with these loft signatures, David developed the hall’s liveable side, adding under-floor heating, and a gigantic kitchen on the upper floor running the width of the building, with a 37-foot-long solid walnut counter on top of stainless steel cabinets. This unites the dining, cooking and social spaces that run the length of the front façade on the upper floor.

In the bedroom, a door opens directly to the stainless steel shower. A half-bath sits just outside the bedroom, allowing guests easy access to it when the wood panel dividing the bedroom from the main area is drawn. The sinks are by Duravit and faucets by Grohe.

Waechter Architecture reimagined a traditional gabled home in southeast Portland without significantly altering the original building. A simple coat of red paint abstracts the century-old structure, creating a residential work of art.

The clients and design team chose to forego an open floor plan in favor of defined, separated spaces. In this scheme, the vertically oriented spaces act as a cinematic "hard-cut" to their horizontal counterparts. The custom hot rolled steel kitchen, one of these vertical transition spaces, receives light from above through a Velux skylight. A GE Profile Induction cooktop and oven and Miele refrigerator complete the space.

House O, designed by Jun Igarashi, forgoes hallways and interior doors in favor of casually interconnected rooms.

Marcus Lee and Rachel Hart’s wonderful wooden home sits at the end of a quiet London lane and politely turns its back on the workshops next door.

Corporate high-flyers and admitted neat freaks Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton couldn’t handle the chaos anymore. Read more about this Victorian terrace in London here.

“In this house, the roof is the only facade—the rest is dissolved beneath it.” —Architect Aljoša Dekleva

At the entry looking upward towards a Velux skylight, a vertical "sleeve" is made of stacked end grain plywood. The theme of vertical and horizontal architectural elements providing different environmental perspectives carries through to the rest of the home. Horizontal forms look out to the lake, while the vertical columns look up the sky.

Seen in the architectural context of its London neighborhood, the house is all the more extraordinary: compact, materially innovative, and easy on the eyes.

The house's open plan is neatly divided into public and private spaces, with the front containing the kitchen and living areas and the back holding the bedroom and bath, overhung by a small mezzanine. A hidden wooden panel can be drawn closed between the two sections for greater privacy.

Fine wood craftsmanship defines the dwelling's interior, where all the facilities—from the kitchen cabinets to the fireplace to the bathroom—are integrated into a single oak wall, handmade by van Norel. He also made the dining table, which is paired with Philippe Starck master chairs—the only ready-made items in the space other than fixtures and appliances.

When the shutters are closed, the house assumes an introverted character.

The designers handmade the custom table with meticulous attention to detail. After intentionally matching wood grains to ensure a smooth transition between pieces, the table was fitted into the kitchen island to transition the kitchen into the living area. The dining chairs and lounger are Eames for Herman Miller.

The design team enclosed the vestibule of the front entrance to offer an area in which everyone can remove shoes and coats. The dining area boasts a handmade pendant by The Light Factory in Baltimore, Maryland. The table is from Blu Dot; the chairs are from Ikea. The flooring is natural bamboo from Dyerich.

Artists' Handmade Houses is available from Abrams and also features the homes of nine other artists. Learn more at abrambooks.com. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

In the Spotlight“I’m a huge proponent of lighting as architecture,” says Nix, who suggests illuminating objects instead of empty space. “Light on an object creates ambiance.” In their apartment, they’ve trained track lights from the Polish company LightArt on the Cube, as well as on the handmade cabinetry. The fixtures, which Novak-Zemplinski describes as “good quality and inexpensive in comparison to more well-known brands,” are also installed at the MoMA in New York. lightart.pl Practical DecorationOne of the secrets to living neatly in a small apartment, says Nix, is lots of storage space. To that end, the couple built big cabinets along the walls. To create a sense of visual unity throughout the eclectic but compact space, the couple hand-carved the tree pattern from the kitchen into these cabinet doors (from a template) using an electric router. It’s more than ornament: The cutouts eliminate the need for jutting cabinet pulls. biolinia.com

An architect and artist flee Dublin for the countryside to build a biodegradable house and raise their children. Photo by Cornelius Scriba.

A glass door on the north side sits opposite a glass window on the south wall that overlooks a birch tree forest. Skylights pull light into the interior. "Even though the artist paints landscapes, she didn't want to be distracted by the beauty of her surroundings while in the studio, which led to the limited apertures," Peterson says.

With 5,000 square feet on the ground floor, the structure boasts two capacious exhibition spaces, which the couple use to show their own work, as well as rent out to others for private events.

Photo by Patrick Barta

Hang the Stockings with care. HANDMADE CHRISTMAS STOCKINGScandinavian inspired bird hand screen-printed onto white cotton or natural linen and handmade in London. With a vintage style tape hanging loop.

This 3,200-square-foot structure was assembled with a prefabricated foundation, concrete panel siding, and efficient built-ins, minimizing construction debris and toxins—such as concrete foundation tar—on the site.

At their A. Quincy Jones house in Los Angeles, architects Cory Buckner and Nick Roberts used permeable pavers to help the soil retain moisture.

Home Renovation Tip: Get an Understanding of What’s Already Around

Many tiny home dwellers develop eco-friendly habits when they downsize—like adopting a capsule wardrobe, carpooling more, and harvesting rainwater.

The clients insisted that none of the trees on the property be disturbed, so Kevin Alter and his team at Alterstudio Architecture built a deck and an overhang around two of them.