A Seattle family tasked Atmosphere Design Build with creating a sustainable dwelling in Nevada City, California, the matriarch's hometown and a historic mining community. The firm's material-driven approach channels the pioneer spirit of the gold rush, without compromising comfort or high-efficiency standards.

Simpatico Homes founder Seth Krubiner has lived in the prefab company’s nearly net-zero prototype since it was customized and lifted onsite in 2011.

Components for low-cost prefab homes designed by Habitat for Humanity and the firm Minarc for South Central Los Angeles were trucked in and assembled over three days. Photos by Art Gray.

Rice surfs the net at the built-in desk.

Most impressive of all, a solar array on the roof empowers the residents to produce more energy than they consume on-site.

A view of the installation at the House for Contemporary Art in Belgium.

Numen's Net, occupied by gallery attendees.

The California Academy of Sciences by David Bryan.

The yellow hall gives a bolt of energy as you head into to the lecture hall. © Greg Irikura 2013.

The use of color continues in the monochromatic bathrooms. © Greg Irikura 2013

Colorful mid-century style furnishings outfit the Red Bull Music Academy. © Greg Irikura 2013.

The design and construction process for the project overlapped to ensure the space would be completed in time for this year’s Red Bull Music Academy. Separate crews were enlisted to work on each level. Pictured here, a glimpse of the performance space (also prone to impromptu dance parties). © Greg Irikura 2013.

Each work pod/studio contains the work of one or two artists featured in Kairos. Many of the pieces are interactive to encourage creative stimulation in the workspaces. © Greg Irikura 2013.

Of his design, Inaba says “It's about filtering out some of the visual noise of the city, if you will, so the spot light is cast on the ideas, music, video and art.” Here, the lecture hall. © Greg Irikura 2013.

At a net-zero home in San Francisco, the house's green roof is more of a brown roof: a desert-like array of native and non-native succulents that require minimal irrigation. The soil area is maintained with motorcycle tires (including one from a Harley hog), which control erosion. Composting takes place here as well.

Louis Kahn opened up the interior of this brick library at Phillips Exeter Academy with a ceiling clerestory, which allowed sunlight to flow in and colorfully contrast with the stone-and-wood interior. Illumination was a focus down to the smallest detail, such as the teak study corrals positioned in light-filled spots.

Metal shingles cut from scraps of sheet metal mix with new material as well as odds and ends, such as a road sign Baker bought at the Alameda Flea market. Baker designed stainless steel clips that allow any tile to be easily moved or replaced without the use of tools. Planter box panels add functionality to the facade and can be swapped out or relocated throughout the year.

Artist Tamara Gonzalez added to the rock n’ roll vibe of a recording studio. Tamara Gonzalez, I Like Your Room. Did a Pole Come With It?, 2013. Courtesy of the artist and The Red Bull Music Academy

Rewood, by Design Academy in Eindhoven student Daniel Hulsbergen.

The Arrival Plaza, completed in 1994, at the Cranbrook Academy of Art (below), is Pallasmaa’s sole U.S. project to date, and marks the entry of the historic campus designed by Eliel Saarinen.

For her work, Carly Mark will slowly be tearing away at one of the working studio’s walls. Carly Mark, Untitled, 2013. Courtesy of the artist and The Red Bull Music Academy.

Martin Roth explored the effect of noise on plant life via the bonsai seen here and an arrangement of sound from wildlife in a network of aquariums. Martin Roth, Untitled (Bonsai), 2013. Courtesy of the artist and The Red Bull Music Academy.

Rather than a one-off custom piece, Baker designed the daybed as a prototype and worked with Ohio Design on its fabrication.

The Catch lamp is based on a butterfly net.

“These are homes that are truly sustainable—they don’t create any waste in fabrication, and there’s no waste onsite.” —Tryggvi Thorsteinsson, Minarc. Photos by Art Gray.

“There’s no drilling or chopping,” says Erla Dögg Ingjaldsdóttir, cofounder of Minarc. “It’s a very elegant way to build.” Photos by Art Gray.

No visit to Michigan is complete without a stop at the iconic Cranbrook Academy of Art. (1025 likes)

NET was founded by renowned architect Alejandro Sticotti in 1990. The firm prefers to use South American hardwoods that, in addition to being durable, anchor their products in their Argentine origins. For instance, the Silla ska chair (seen here) is made from lenga, a patagonian wood that resembles American cherry. The satin black floor lamp is also from NET.

Bullitt Center (Seattle, Washington: 2013) Denis Hayes, chief executive of the Bullitt Foundation, said that if the Bullit Center, his organization’s ambitious experiment in creating a sustainable and “living” office building, is still the greenest space of its kind in a decade, it will have been a failure. That’s not bragging, that’s merely an insight into the scope and ambition of this revolutionary structure, a testing ground for water and energy self sufficiency (via rainwater collection, composting, and a large solar array) aiming to be a case study for radical change in how we build. Based on stats released on Earth Day in April, the building’s first anniversary, the structure is currently using 75 percent less energy than a similar structure and is on its way to a net zero energy certification. Photo by Benjamin Benschneider

New York-based firm Khanna Schultz built a net-positive home in the Hamptons inspired by Japanese design.

Accessed by a ladder with alternating treads, the sleeping loft features custom casework by Kevin P. Clarke Custom Woodwork that holds Kid Robot figurines, Hopi baskets, and an iPhone gramophone by Lawrence LaBianca. Lights by Pablo Designs are perched atop a bed that Baker designed. Peeking out from under the rug (made by Baker’s mother, Emilie) is a salvaged maple floor, which was finished with VOC-free flaxseed oil.

Sticotti cites a mixture of design inspiration from Japan, Scandinavia, and European designers who emigrated to the Unites States. A simplicity and honest expression of materials is evident in this coatrack made from peteribí and lapacho, both South American woods.

Designed and prototyped by David Baker Architects, the building’s siding was made from salvaged maple flooring left over from another project. Inspired by the Japanese and Finnish practice of finishing exterior wood by charring, Baker used a roofing torch to char the boards and screwed them into vertical cedar battens.

Florescence Vase by Yuan Yuan for the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing.

A bath overlooks the central water feature. A ladder leads up to a suspended net that's perfect for lounging.

Overhead, a 102-square-foot skylight fills the interior with daylight that streams through the catamaran net, where Ulla lounges.