"Radical sustainability

While the house’s original pine is richly colored and textured, a number of structural posts rendered the kitchen difficult to furnish with modern fixtures. A newly-added black beam, which extends outward into the dining room, allowed for the posts’ removal.

The house has two modules: a living space on the left and a utilities, laundry, and outdoor kitchen on the right.

Using another service, Outback Power, Pendl can see how much energy he's drawing from (or sending to) the grid when his 450 watt wind turbine and 800 watts of solar panels are operating. This all being said, the trailer isn't yet fully integrated with smart technoly: climate control and HVAC are still a separate system. "Another nice addition down the road would be to add smart tires to the trailer so that I can monitor and adjust air pressure from afar," Pendl says. "I take the Airstream on some pretty bumpy forest roads—the high desert of Nevada for Burning Man included—and it'd be great to quickly see an adjust tire pressure for better traction."

The Lai family—Mayuko, baby Shota on her lap, David, Maya, and Yumi sitting on a cushion on the deck—relaxes in their indoor-outdoor living space, made by opening the glass sliding doors to connect the living room and engawa deck.

The most sustainable element of all is the Lais’ intention to make their first home their last home as well. “Some people have this mentality of getting a starter house, then upgrading from there,” David says. “We just wanted to find a place to live in and then stay there forever.” Eventually they imagine passing the home down to their children.

In the kitchen, the continuous kitchen worktop and table are made of marble from Caledonia Marble. The pink Tamatik dining chairs are by Connie Chisholm and are from the Canadian design shop Made. The Blinding Love pendant lights are by Periphere, which has shops in Montreal and Toronto. Photo by Naomi Finlay.

"By keeping the main color block in the showers, we tried to contain the chaos to a small and palatable space within the bathroom," Cooper says. "It's fun when you're in there, but you're not overwhelmed when using the bathroom for other purposes."

Opposite the master bedroom on the top floor lies the sunny kids’ bedroom. A double-sided wardrobe provides storage, and functionally divides two separate sleeping areas. Further storage is placed along the window wall that faces the backyard.

A 55-inch Samsung Smart TV, a gift, is one of few indulgences.

Smart ForTwo BoConcept Editionby Smart To appeal to design-savvy consumers, Smart collaborated with the Danish furniture company BoConcept to develop the ForTwo’s leather-trimmed interior. On the market in the USA in late 2013, it offers a top speed of more than 78 mph. When fully charged, its range is 76 to 90 miles. Smart’s handy mobile app alerts drivers to real-time battery status and the closest charging stations. At 8.8 feet long, it’s among the smallest cars on the market today. smartusa.com

The Wally's price is especially competitive considering a one-time installation that will last over ten years—though, as connected home technology progresses so rapidly, it’s hard to know whether this kind of system will be relevant then. Inarguably, though, water damage will be a recurring issue for homeowners, making it likely that a prevention system is worth the spend.

Earth tone tiles back a Kohler sink at this energy efficient home in Davis, California. The backsplash is from Heath Ceramics, the sink is Kohler, and the custom millwork is by Schmidt's Cabinetry.

Even the shower embraces the neutral palette.

In the bathroom, the shower stall looks up to the open sky.

The two bathrooms are sited on either end of the rectangular plan. Each have been fitted with discrete skylights for additional illumination.

Simple brass screws affix the bathroom’s antibacterial copper cladding, reclaimed from a barn roof in Connecticut, to the walls. Bronze screen frames, salvaged from buildings on Shope’s Amenia property and then cut into small decorative strips, line the bathroom door frame.

A look at the couple's adjoining bathroom.

"We wanted this to be a fully-immersive environment in and out of the shower," Cooper says. His team decided to create a custom terrazzo based off of the same material that was found during demolition.

No compromises were made throughout the development process or the various stages of production. The sleek and clever city car in essence is a transportation solution to urban living challenges.

The cedar plywood paneling used throughout the project adds a mellow quality to the light. The dropped fiberglass screen recalls an outdoor shower, but also provides privacy. The materials were chosen for their texture, weathering characteristics, durability, and organic appearance — while fiberglass may not actually be natural, says architect Lance Herbst, the type used here, with its visible fibers, has a natural quality. The basin is Metrix, and the shower curtain by Catherine David.

Arias said a core concept of the design was to focus on something approachable, made with soft material you’d want to grab with your hand, instead of overloading people with technology. Booo eventually wants to collaborate with designers to design new versions of the Smart Booo with even more tactile variation.

"Smart is not just a car. It is a statement of urban living and the perfect city car in terms of beautiful, functional design" says Claus Ditlev Jensen, Collection Director at Boconcept.

"Shane enjoys both cooking and entertaining so we maximized the counter space to make meal prep and hosting easy," Priftaj says. "It was also very important that the kitchen include a gas grill so he could quickly and conveniently grill without having to climb up five flights of stairs to use the bbq on the patio." Priftaj selected high-gloss acrylic white cabinets from bulthaup's b3 line with an aluminum backsplash and b3 prism drawer system to keep things tidy. A Wolf hood and gas cooktop with chargrill give Carslake the flexibility he desired for indoor grilling. The counters are polished white quartz.

A second-floor balcony overlooks a landscaped garden and a 1,000-square-foot detached garage.

Named after its rooftop photovoltaic panels, the Solar Studio is the first completed build in NODE’s customizable Trillium Series.

A large rock from the property provides seating in the shower.

Tech enthusiasts will recognize August Smart Lock as the DIY security device that allows homeowners to create virtual keys for guests to come and go. Design seekers will notice the second-generation lock, soon to ship, has a more tactile, intuitive form profile that resembles a traditional knob. The latest model is also Apple Homekit enabled.

Jestico + Whiles created this five-bedroom villa for a family near Prague, Czech Republic, outfitting it with the latest smart-home technology.

A signature feature is the natural oak stairs, whose treads appear to be suspended between the wall and a transparent railing.

A skylight emphasizes the division of the upper level into master's and children's wings, and draws natural light deep into the core of the ground-floor kitchen and dining area.

Floor-to-celing glass overlooks a deck and the garden beyond. The facade is a combination of light-gray stucco and cement panels.

“The central vision was threefold: interiors that would bring the family joy, support their daily activities, and provide specific areas of refuge for each member and as a family,” says Chenault, who integrated a Hansgrohe Axor rain shower in the master bath, which has frosted glass.

The standing shower is set off by etched-glass panels supported by stainless-steel hardware. There is no threshold; instead, the tile within the shower zone slopes down very slightly to a floor trough with a custom stainless-steel grille. Along the wall, a Corian shelf—“the longest soap dish in the world,” resident Don Evans jokes—runs the length of the space.