The landscape design, by Anna Boeschenstein of Grounded, followed a 2,200-square-foot extension by Formwork architects Robert and Cecilia H. Nichols. The front door is painted in Chinese Red by Sherwin-Williams.

Ethan Schussler built his first tree house at 12 years old. His tree house in Sandpoint, Idaho, sits 30 feet above the ground and can be accessed by an "elevator" consisting of a bicycle that, when pedaled, ascends a pulley system to the top.

The architects created the illusion of more space by opening up the floor plan, repositioning the staircase and introducing sight lines to the large windows on the south side. Recurring black accents—from the dining room’s Serge Mouille light fixture to its tall bookcases—contrast the brightness of the crisp white walls. Walnut floors and lighter wood furniture like the Klaus Willhelm table and Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs cozy up the home, while colorful objects animate it. “We strongly believe that people do not need more space, they just need better-designed space,” Dubbeldam says.

In the ground-floor gallery, 40-foot-long library shelving is punctuated by floor-to-ceiling columns made from white acrylic panels that conceal low-cost fluorescent-tube lighting.

Melbourne Cricket Ground One of the world’s most famous cricket venues, the MCG in inner Melbourne is also Australia’s largest stadium and is referred to within Victoria as the “spiritual home of Australian sport.”Opened in 1854, the MCG hosted Australia’s first bicycle race, served as the centerpiece stadium for the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games and fills to the rafters for the Australian Football League Grand Final every year in September.The MCG is known for its atmosphere, and if you’re feeling especially loutish head to Bay 13, the notorious section of tiered seats that occupies part of the Great Southern Stand. This is where the uber-rowdy and enthusiastic regularly congregate. Photo by: Matthew 70

The home also extends into outdoor panoramas, even—and especially—from the ground floor, where a westward-facing deck cantilevers out into the lush landscape.

“In a way, we’ve grounded the house, incorporating topography as a main component of the composition from a more abstract box initial concept,” Carle explains.

Spiekermann and Dulkinys agree that their house—the first they’ve built from the ground up—is definitely different.

Envisioned as a live-work home, the architects allocated the groundfloor for work functions and placed most living spaces upstairs.

Looking back down, a view toward the ground where picnics and welcome events are often held.

Lawrence and Alice confer in the ground-floor kitchen. Traces of color are visible everywhere, including the orange-and-yellow curtains and pink coathooks.

The ground floor is a music room with a kind of blue vibe, thanks to the Richard Woods flooring.

Poured concrete floors on the first floor pay tribute to the building’s predecessor.

Jeffrey Kipnis and Stephen Turk's Figure Ground Game exhibition was featured at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles in early 2014.

“When you enter the courtyard, you realize that you have left the forest and entered the house,” Hutchison says. “We spoke often with [the clients] about the quality of this courtyard. [The client] likes to call it his own Zen garden, although I think that he also likes that the courtyard facade serves to keep the numerous elk in the area at bay.” Concrete pavers, gravel, and ipe decking cover the ground.

The ground floor has a visitor’s bedroom for when Velma has friends over to stay.

Ground Zero Master Plan (New York City) Studio Daniel Libeskind designed the master plan for Ground Zero, a complete redevelopment that features three new towers, a transporation hub, and a museum. Libeskind has been working with firms including Snøhetta, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Santiago Calatrava, to reimagine the Lower Manhattan site.

There are eight units altogether, with commercial space on the ground floor.

The ground-floor studio is fully equipped with IKEA everything.

South: Mark Word Design Mulch and living ground covers—like Big Blue liriope, marsilea, and Palisades zoysia turf—keep moisture within the soil and lowers the soil’s temperature, protecting the live oak trees’ roots.

The ground-floor office is flooded with light from two sides.

The architects conceived the buildings as “solid bodies emerging from the ground.”

Balancing Ground, seen here, is a structure that encourages collaboration with its inviting sense of play: the teeter-tooter triggers audio clips that tend to sneak up on those in the adjacent pavilion.

A square hole in the ground and a concrete slab are all that demarcate Byoung Cho’s Earth House from the surrounding countryside.

Pacific Northwest: 2.ink Studio Oregon wood sorrel offers ground cover. “The lushness of our native landscape is really the most captivating aspect of our region,” Beaver says. “Because we get so much rain, that can become an integral dimension of our designs.”

The ground floor, which opens to the rear driveway and a pond in the private side garden, allows for easy indoor-outdoor dining and entertaining.

They lengthened the kitchen by removing a ground-level bathroom. This created a much larger kitchen/living/dining area, complete with a central fireplace.

"I thought the building should be repaired and basically not changed," Judd said in 1989. "The given circumstances were very simple: the floors must be open; the right angle of windows on each floor must not be interrupted; and any changes must be compatible." While most of the building remains almost exactly as the artist left it, the Judd Foundation is now introducing special exhibitions on the first floor of 101 Spring. The first is Make art, not pipelines: Get in on the Ground Floor, which features two works by artist Dan Flavin and runs through September 19, 2015. Image © Judd Foundation; Photo credit: Maris Hutchinson, EPW Studio; Judd Foundation Archive; Flavin artwork © 2015 Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London; Licensed by VAGA

The F-Factory, in an industrial corner of Zurich, is ground zero for Freitag manufacturing.

City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and Walt Disney examine plans of the 1964 World’s Fair Grounds.

Read in his office.

The firm achieved a floating effect of the upper floors by treating the ground floor with a glass facade.

21c Museum Hotel's ground-floor restaurant, The Hive, features Arkansas native Matthew McClure’s take on refined country cooking. The 125-seat restaurant was designed as a communal gathering place for diners; design notes include polished concrete floors, a white glazed-brick bar face, and a Carthage marble bar top (a limestone produced in the region). Terra cotta tiles line the floor, and the pantry is furnished with a selection of jarred house-made pickles, coffee beans, and other provisions.

The original structures were lifted from their foundations to accommodate new ground-floor units.

Os vãos grandes trazem a iluminação natural para dentro, extinguindo a necessidade de luzes artificiais.
 O jardim circunda a casa, o paisagismo é um complementar. Não começamos a pensar a casa se o paisagista não estiver junto.

A view from the back reveals the studio space on the ground floor and the living areas above.