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

Purple thistles, California poppies, clover, and dandelions have all taken root in the roughly 10-inch-deep, lightweight humus and grape-husk soil in this 580-square-foot green roof. Designer Peter Liang says that he "wanted to plant a green roof for its thermal mass, but I wanted it to be as natural as possible."

Suzanne and Brooks Kelley at the back of their 1,100-square-foot guest cottage.

The owners toured this home, which surrounds a mature tipu tipu tree, while visiting relatives for the day. The brick is original to the 1947 construction.

Sliding doors by Quantum were made to look like the original panes that couldn't be saved, and they lead to a fire pit outside.

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.

Almo Troup repurposed nearly all of the materials from a tumbledown shack to create a dreamy, minimalist workspace in his backyard.

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.”

The LED lighting is encased in translucent poly-carbonate panels on top and bottom. Daylight streams through from the roof when the lights aren't on.

“I wanted to bring in a little bit of apricot to nod to the name of the studio,” says Troup of the $25 USD orange velvet curtain he hung as a space divider.

At the top of the stairwell, a sitting area is outfitted with a vintage Eames lounge, a large Jack Goldstein painting, and a 1970s light fixture found by Marcovitz in Paris.

The view!

The home's studio was initially deemed non-compliant by local authorities for violating the neighborhood's historic character. Thankfully, says Teschendorrf, the decision was overruled by the Building Commission.

LAMAS filled out an existing niche in the thick wall of the sunroom with a custom built-in for vinyl.

The kitchen features a concrete island topped with marble. Deja-Vu stools by Naoto Fukasawa surround the island. A print by Guy Gormley, as well as a painting bought during holiday in St. Tropez, hang on the walls.

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.

In the dining room, Guillerme et Chambron armchairs from Maison Gerard surround a CB2 table. The ceiling light is by Lambert & Fils. In the kitchen, rich blue cabinetry with wood details from GD Arredamenti is topped with a Caesarstone “Aire Concrete” counter. The gold artwork is by Joyce Billet.

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.