The 925-square-foot house Maggie Treanor calls home blends into the landscape somewhat; with a galvanized steel shed roof and siding, it looks like a high-design little brother to the barns on the surrounding farms.

The outdoor room is backed by a gabion wall made of stone. Rainwater runs off the roofs into a channel before being funneled through pipes concealed within it to an underground concrete tank.

Many prefab architects and suppliers specialize in either modular or panelized construction. Minneapolis architect Charlie Lazor has worked with both mediums. This lake house in rural Ontario, Canada, is an example of one of his modular projects. It was built in a Wisconsin factory about 400 miles away.

Two linked 1,000-square-foot pavilions are greater than a sum of their parts. The simply detailed, taut, flat-roofed home’s two wings form a T-shape. One wing runs north to south, parallel to a pool, and contains the open-plan living spaces. Photo by Matthew Millman.

The Food Zone Fine-tuning your cooking and dining areas pays off in more ways than just saving resources. As in other functional zones, their success starts with awareness: Where exactly does your food come from? Where exactly does your trash go after you haul it to the curb? Playing an active role in your family’s food cycle can be eye-opening, and it often helps spark an interest in improving other house zones.

Large sliding glass doors suspend the living room within the landscape for family gatherings or larger events.

The relationship between interior and exterior becomes crucial in the articulation of the residence.

The first floor consists of two long and narrow structures that intersect in an open kitchen, providing distinct programmatic areas and settling into the tree-lined landscape, allowing yards to surround and permeate each room.

Maximizing daylight is only one of the sustainable design strategies used in the Low/Rise residence.

The horizontal layout of the home allows for easy movement throughout the interior, while the line of the continuous roof seems to extend into the trees. Enlarging the opening of the home allowed for impressive views of the river and surrounding area.

Metals broker S. J. Sherbanuk (left) and designer James Campbell (right) created a new home in Collingwood, Ontario, with old scrap. "Repurpose, refurbish, recycle" was the guiding principle for the project. The modern, metal fireplace becomes a sculptural feature of an outdoor deck.

The home’s cubed shape keeps the footprint small, while the overhang was designed to accommodate the changing angle of the sun. It prevents overheating in summer while admitting as much winter sunlight as possible.

The Japanese-style bathroom, which is clad in teak, features a matching tub and sink by Bath in Wood.

A south-facing wall of windows allows for spectacular views and maximizes passive solar heating.

In this sustainable home in Silicon Valley, the primary suite opens to a deck and fern garden with large, sliding glass doors.

Through an integral relationship between use, form, and material, the Low/Rise House responds sensitively to site, nature, and neighborhood, creating a new type of suburban living – both urban and rural.

Universities and street-smart organizations are collaborating to help meet urban communities' need for livable and affordable dwellings. In one example, the Georgia Tech School of Architecture teamed with Resource Furniture and Architecture for Humanity for a juried competition in which student entrants designed interiors for Net Zero Energy House prototypes. Principles will discuss the first-place entry onstage.

The Casa Cuatro sits above a 180-foot cliff that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. The locally quarried stone makes the house blend in with the landscape and acts as a thermal-mass wall, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it through the evening.

The house was built on piers (save for the lower-level bedroom) so that little of the natural landscape would be disturbed.

Having purchased the land from a friend who also has a house in the community, Schneider had a better sense of what she wanted—and what she didn't—her site. "From the experience at the neighbor's house," Foster says, "she knew she didn't want the house to have its back to the morning sun so we created a deck and somewhere to sit outside that faces east." Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

The main house is constructed from structural insulated panels from Vermont Timber Frames and clad in charred cedar. The roof panels are by Agway Metals.

Super Ted with Red Cape by Kathryn Davey $49.00 Not to fear super teddy is here! Made of linen and filled with biodegradable sustainable fiber these stuffed super heroes come with a removable clack and eye piece.

Here's what you need to know before undergoing a building project with a contractor but no architect.

When not in use during winter, the tub is hidden from the home’s view. The entrance has a sheltered overhang for car parking.

We also toured inside Arbel’s home along the Vancouver cliffs. Pick up our September issue, on newsstands August 5. to see his home filled with collectibles, animals, and Bocci prototypes.

Bleacher-style benches meet at right angles in the main interior space. The west-facing and south-facing seats are stained in slightly hues. Pillowcases are custom dyed to match the bleachers.

Barely perceptible from the street above, the Kim Residence by Form Environment Research (fer) Studio is designed to blend into the shadows of the La Canada foothills. Photo courtesy of Jack Coyier.

The great room's high, pitched roof and neutral walls give the space an open, tranquil feel, making it a desirable spot for the couple to pursue two of their passions: classical music and literature.

Privacy can often be an issue when living in such close proximity with your neighbors. Each of the units include their own private entrance and there are no shared walkways. Whether the unit has a deck or patio, all the units are separated by a wood wall to ensure privacy.

The facade is clad with beveled siding, stained dark to meld into the forest.

Visitors learn about energy and water conservation as they climb outdoor staircases that lead from the forest floor to the 125-foot-high rooftop rising above the leaf canopy.

Atop the 30-foot tower, a roof deck emerges through the trees, providing a unique vantage point of the structure below and the surrounding townscape.

A compact and vertical guest tower is sited at the western corner of the lot amongst tall evergreens, allowing for a more private guest experience, more compact floor plan, and the ability to effectively shut off (socially and energy-wise) the guest spaces zone by zone during typical daily use.

Surrounded on all sides by a sweeping Canadian hayfield, the 23.2 House is an angular ode to rural life.

In London, students from the Architectural Association used beech trees leftover from thinning a forest at their school’s Dorset campus to craft a delicately framed shelter. Via Dezeen