A covered walkway provides a sheltered passage between the main house and studio. The fire pit is used during social gatherings.

Technically, this small building is not a tree house, since it’s braced at the ground by supports, but Grey didn’t want to compromise the tree, which “doesn’t have a very long lifespan,” the designer says. “So, I didn’t want to jeopardize however long that tree had with any excess baggage.”

The sinuous interior is lined with CNC-cut wooden panels that define stepped sauna seating and porthole windows.

The sauna structure includes a small deck.

A 25-foot custom bifold door made of corrugated plastic and twin-wall polycarbonate encloses an artist’s studio designed by Marc Frohn of FAR frohn&rojas.

The ribbon-like design affords the building three different gable profiles—one is symmetrical, while the other two lean in opposite directions.

Rose’s pottery studio opens right up to the back lawn to let the sunlight (or curious pups) inside.

A wood-burning stove from Harvia, of Finland, heats the sauna. The pavilion’s rough-cut pine walls are treated with tar, a preservative that yields a time-worn aesthetic.

Phillips designed Judith a stark white, glass-fronted art studio.

We tried to be very resourceful. You shouldn’t see any tile on the deck that had to be cut; it’s almost like a perfect puzzle,” comments the designer, Marc Frohn.

The sauna is named after Huginn and Muninn, two ravens from Norse mythology.

The structure is made entirely from treated pine, while its corrugated polycarbonate roof protects it from the elements.

The Exbury Egg asks us to reexamine the way we live while carefully considering sustainability and the use of natural resources.

These tiny egg-shaped cabins are mounted onto small podiums to keep them stable.

The sauna door handle is a simple piece of driftwood. “One principle rule I followed,” says Kiehl, “was: Don’t build on outdoor space if it can work as outdoor living space. Norwegian summers are short. We want to be outdoors as much as possible.”

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 roofline of the Tind house prototype, designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune for prefab company Fiskarhedenvillan, has more conventional Swedish gables than the flat-roofed modernism of typical prefab units.

Fir plywood from Freres Lumber joins IKEA cabinets. The figure painting is by Dylan Dean.

This room can be a family room, office, or guest suite. The flooring is the same throughout: Riva Floors, Engineered Wood Select Grade, in Crystal Thunder, and the couch is from Restoration Hardware. Unseen is the foosball and ping pong tables.

The living room is five steps down from the kitchen and office space and features textured black slate tile from Olympia Tile, Voyage Immobile sofas with Farniente collection upholstery (a wedding present from Flanders’s mother) by Roche Bobois, and a rug from Turkmenistan the couple picked up in Jerusalem. The sliding glass doors are by Loewen and the glazing above is by Inline Fiberglass. Sawatzky relied on Wayne Arsenault for the custom millwork and carpentry.

The studio addition is part of a revamp that unifies buildings, canopies, and the courtyard. It was a three-year job for architect-owners Matt Wittman and Jody Estes, with many materials opportunistically salvaged.

While making its own unique mark, the studio is also deeply respectful towards its historic surroundings. The structure sits directly on top of a Victorian "midden wall," an enclosure traditionally used by the adjacent stables as a depository for horse manure. The studio's twin gables mimic its direct neighbors, and the zinc molding on the gutter also echoes its Victorian predecessors.

Occupying a footprint of just 110 square feet, the studio finds smart ways to maximize space. Central to this undertaking is the studio’s cantilever, which appears to float over the stream. The cantilever affords the studio more internal volume, while occupying no greater footprint below.

In his studio, Priatman blew up an aerial photograph of Surabaya, where he is based, to map his current architectural projects.

Light is controlled in the studio to facilitate the artist’s work. Half of the studio is flooded with northern light for traditional art forms such as sculpture and drawing, while the other half minimizes light to avoid screen glare for digital work.

The curved wall is just as pleasing of a detail when experienced on the inside of the writer's studio.

The concrete wall behind the porch provides a backdrop for the wood stove and privacy from the road.

A wall of bamboo adjacent to the atrium floor provides a dramatic and seductive green entrance—“natural art,” Eric calls it.

This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.

A bathroom is tucked beside the new sunroom behind the sliding barn door, which was found at Albany Architectural Salvage.

A guest bedroom, with furniture from Room & Board, overlooks the bridge above the dining courtyard. The home’s landscape architecture is by Ventura, California–based Jack Kiesel. Photo by Coral von Zumwalt.

The screened porch functions as the building’s primary bedroom, creating a cabin-like experience.