In Palm Springs, Sander Architects created an energy-efficient hybrid prefab home that’s designed to stay naturally cool in the desert heat, which often climbs to triple digits in the summer.

“Exposing the craft and detail of the materials was a key part of the design,” Flato notes. The texture of the house, he says, can be observed in the concrete retaining wall for the lap pool.

Wright Feldhusen Architects designed this house for a client that loves to swim. A lap pool connects the home to the ocean that lies beyond the property in Maroubra, Australia, a suburb of Sydney.

The lap pool, off the kitchen, is one of the home's most serene zones.

The home's abundance of glass creates a peaceful dialogue between the indoors and outdoors.

The pool feels as laterally finite as the house feels spacious—but the view goes up forever.

Sphinx, the family Carolina dog, scouts the perimeter of the Concrete Collaborative pavers in the backyard. The pavers were installed on a slight angle to channel water to the surrounding gravel, lawn, and planting beds. This substantially lowers the landscape's water demand. Perforated PVC pipes and a pump move excess rainfall (which would otherwise go to storm drains) into an underground basin where it can later drain off. Redwood fencing reflects the material palette of the interior and creates visual continuity around the backyard.

The Lost Whiskey Cabin stands on a rocky bluff overlooking Virginia's countryside.

"The brief was to efficiently and cost effectively transform a light-starved weatherboard into an open and modern home with a good connection to the rear garden and a relaxed yet refined feel," says the firm. The owner charred and oiled the shiplapped cypress siding himself.

Beolit 15 Bluetooth Speaker by Cecilie Manz for Bang & Olufsen, $599 from store.dwell.com From Bang & Olufsen, the Beolit 15 Bluetooth Speaker is a sophisticated portable speaker that blends exquisite technology and thoughtful design details.

Day takes a swim in a new lap pool framed by a lush Southern California garden. The lower wall next to the pool is made from stacked Pennsylvania bluestone, which was used for all exterior stone as well.

Mila designed the home’s concrete pool, which is finished with a custom plaster. The pool area includes sleek chairs from Cast + Crew.

Cliff Dwelling | Olson Kundig

The addition’s roofline rises northward to capture daylight through a series of operable skylights.

Achieving such efficiency and maintaining the integrity of the wetlands and woodlands on the property meant more research for both the designers and the resident—just getting approval for the siting of the buildings and the driveway took eight months—but Hague is hardly one to do things half way. “A lot of times couples engage in house-building, like birds. I'm doing this solo, more like a monk,” he says of the deeply personal undertaking.

The skylight above the pool is an odd shape, one Corral describes as a "rectongulus." It’s this spot, in a home full of beautiful moments, that she likes best. Above you is the sky. The rammed earth surrounds you, the view is in front of you, and the shadows of the trellis dance on the gentle waves of the turquoise pool. "It’s the place where you have all the connections," says Corral.

“The main volume presents a traditional front and is wrapped on the west and south by a deep porch,” says architect Erin Sterling Lewis. “Living and dining spaces access the porch.” A standing seam metal roof with a Kynar finish and HardiePlank Lap Siding cover the exterior of this 3,000-square-foot home.

“The owners envisioned a place that engaged with the outdoors while providing accommodating spaces for their off-season training for triathlons,” Flato notes. A 75-foot-long lap pool on the west end of the home comes in handy during practice.

"Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." While Fuller’s ultimate goal was audacious, the idea of a real-time simulation in the ‘60s, accessible to before widespread access to computing, was just somewhat less ambitious. Fuller’s game—so-called to be accessible to everyone—was a further expansion of his Spaceship Earth philosophy, and is currently being utilized as a model by the O.S. Earth Institute. (Pictured: Bucky's Time cover from 1964.)

A small terrace outfitted with an H55 easy chair by Björn Hultén offers a view of the San Francisco Bay.

On the north side, you’ll find the lap pool which runs 10 feet deep to accommodate one of the homeowners, who insists on entering the pool with a dive every time.

Lodged in a hillside along the arid U.S.-Mexico border, an earthy family home absorbs grand vistas of El Paso, Texas, as well as Juárez, Mexico. A lap pool extends toward a canyon.

The study faces the pool area.

The pool juts out perpendicularly from the main house; the land was bulldozed to become level with the concrete pavers.

During the day, the pool enlivens the exterior with its dappled reflections; at night it casts a soft glow.

Plants wrap around the perforated aluminum railings for a natural touch.

The terraces offer its owners many different outdoors spaces where they can enjoy varied perspectives of nature around them.

Francesco and Mafalda’s bedroom is open and playful with only a bit of Algue by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec guarding the stairs. The lamp was designed by Francesco himself and the decal on the wall is from My Vinilo.

It’s fitting that a man often called one of Finland’s greatest architects would cap his most successful decade of work with a structure that celebrated his country’s contributions to the world. Within the compact, four-story structure, photos of landscapes, people and products looked out over curvaceous, wood-slatted walls, a flowchart of Finnish industry capped off by airplane propellers spinning like fans from the ceiling.

A pool and outdoor lounge area that's shaded by trees.