Mint green-painted ironwork and tiles connect the indoors to the outside more fluidly.

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.

The Max-A studio is also built with a pine frame, though it has pine panelling on the ceiling, while the main house ceiling is painted a warm white.

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 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.

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.

That heat is then transferred to the old stone walls underneath. From there, the stone slowly radiates the warmth into the interior, keeping it around 70°F even as night temperatures drop to 25°F. A wood-burning stove compensates for cloudy days. (For the thermally-savvy, the polycarbonate has a U value of 1.1 W/m²K).

99 by Von Tundra and Lydia Cambron $13,000 Oregon-based Von Tundra’s unit combines three different storage options—a rack, drawers, and boxes—into a multipurpose dresser.

The house has a small environmental footprint. SHED built it using advanced framing, a technique that cuts down on the use of lumber by 30 percent. Another benefit of the method is that it prevents heat from escaping the home, making it more energy-efficient. Additionally, the architects installed a high-efficiency boiler that preheats water with rooftop solar panels; a heat recovery ventilation system that efficiently controls the climate; and a rainwater retention tank that conserves water.

Moore has been using the so-called beetle-kill pine in his projects for years. In the Damianos’ house, he lined the floors, ceiling, cabinetry, and walls of the second-story living area, white-washing the planks “to let a little more sunlight bounce around the room.”

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

On all three aboveground levels of the house, outdoor spaces feature as prominently as indoor ones. The backyard is lined with tiered concrete boxes for planting vegetables; the modest top floor—which houses the master bedroom—has a deck wrapping three sides; and in the middle, a 770-square-foot green roof extends off the living area. Don't miss a word of Dwell! Download our FREE app from iTunes, friend us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter!

Lightroom 1.0, a photography studio, is a freestanding structure on the property. “Together, they represent an autobiography of my career,” Carpenter says.

Flywheel Energy Storage Flywheels are discs or cylinders that spin on an axis in a frictionless enclosure to store power in the form of kinetic energy. When demand for power rises, the spinning can be slowed to release energy to the grid. The advantages of flywheel storage include long life and low maintenance.

A deck is located off the dining area.

If energy from renewables can be stored and dispatched to the grid during periods of peak demand, solar and wind would become more cost-effective and simpler to scale.

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.

Both the sitting and standing versions of DESK 01, a collaboration between Artifox and IdeaPaint, are outfitted with dry erase surfaces for recording sudden bursts of creativity.

Style: "#1"

The Damianos’ house, located in Denver’s Highland neighborhood, runs completely on solar energy.

“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.

“The physics are well known: You move mass against the force of gravity and with the force of gravity to either store or release energy.”—Jim Kelly

Advanced Rail Energy Storage Based in Santa Barbara, California, Advanced Rail Energy Storage has devised a system that draws energy from the grid to push a train of weighted cars uphill. When demand spikes, the cars are sent downhill, sending power back to the grid by using the turning power of the wheels on each car to generate electricity.

Water-saving dishwasher In the kitchen, the dishwasher is the largest source of water use, and dishwashers made before 1994 waste more than 10 gallons of water per cycle. Energy Star certified dishwashers employ soil sensors and more efficient jets to maximize cleaning while minimizing water use.

Top 9 Kitchens of 2020: The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards are the epitome of style and function.

Lauren and Brittan Ellingson, the owners of Notice Snowboards, a custom snowboard and wakesurf company in Whitefish, Montana, approached Workaday Design and builder Mindful Designs to concoct a new lake home for their family. The brief was, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused on getting the family outdoors as much as possible.

The Lofthouse is built one of the many hills separating it from the couple’s main residence. "Excavation was a challenge, as we wanted to maintain as much of the existing landscape as possible, but needed to clear out trees for the foundation," says Tarah.

Parota wood continues in the spacious kitchen. Marisa and Christopher found the blue tile that runs throughout the home on a trip to León, Mexico. "It called out to us," says Christopher. Festooned with small stars, its tone matches the color of the ocean perfectly.

The architects designed the home’s expansion with the knowledge that the owners plan to continue the renovation when their budget allows it. "We wanted to put everything in the right place so it doesn’t have to be undone later," says Corti.