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

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.

Tom Givone’s clients, Rose and Steve Smith, teach overseas and have owned their house for 26 years. They intended to fix it up slowly and retire there. As one problem led to another, they reached a point when they felt their only option, as Rose put it, was to “burn it down.”

Wood decking extends out to the yard.

Amending Meeuwissen’s early request for an open bathroom space, the architects devised a more private chamber with an overhead skylight and walls in stone tile from Intercodam Tegels.

Transforming shipping containers into habitable spaces is a growingly popular subset of prefab. Just off the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, Martha Moseley and Bill Mathesius adapted an unused concrete foundation to create a home made from 11 stacked shipping containers. "We were inspired by the site, and our desire to have something cool and different," says Moseley.

After - living room (Rubio monocoat floors, Chantilly lace walls, used fireplace)

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 couple connected several of the shipping containers, hollowing out the sides to form large, open living areas. “I’ve always been a loft guy,” says Mathesius.

The original Colonial-style exterior included a few small dormers that weren’t large enough to maximize views or welcome natural light into the home. To fix this, Michael installed a series of new ones. Made of standing seam aluminum, they're designed to evoke the feel of local barn windows with a slightly modern twist.

The staircase works as a visual transition from the cozy first level to the more modern second floor. When standing downstairs, the staircase pulls away from the dark anchoring floorboards with angled steel beams, stainless steel cables, and wood caps. “It’s thin and light so that it wouldn’t impede connection to the first floor,” says Michael. “It’s meant to be pretty modern, but the wood cap softens the look a little, and makes the experience of touching the railing softer.”

"Use parks to create places people want to hang out in and manage stormwater at the same time," says Inga Saffron, the Pulitzer-prize wining architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer. "The city is under federal mandate to reduce its overflows into rivers when it rains heavily. Moreover, Philadelphia has a real shortage of green space. So it combined these two ideas: Instead of building twenty-five-inch pipes, they will use greenspaces to absorb rainwater. It's the most sustainable thing Philadelphia is doing."

Kahn's often pegged with being architect who imposed his will on a structure, but in the case of this home commission, a rare residential work, it's instructive to understand how far he went to make the home accommodate its inhabitants. The modified open floor plan respected the client's wish to "be able to play touch football in every room," and the two-story glass facade helped an allergy-suffering owner experience the outdoors.

The Armadillo is parked on a 1,000-square-foot lot that gives the couple ample outdoor space.

The couple opted for a floating floor of cork tiles from Ecore Commerical Flooring. In this method of installation, tiles are affixed to one another, rather than nailed into the floorboards. This allows the tiles to expand and contract with heat, making it ideal for radiant surfaces. Moseley and Mathesius are also fans of cork’s natural color. ecorecommercialflooring.com

In addition to saving on construction costs, upcycling an old container can be an eco-friendly alternative to building from the ground up.

Moseley notes the home’s distinctive staircase as one of her favorite features. "When the steel was ordered from the steelyard," she says, "it was marked with our metalworker’s name, for easy pickup. That scribble still exists in random places in the staircase and is very industrial—we love it!" Hand-welded by Mike Carman, a local contractor, the staircase runs through all three floors, and it was custom-sized to fit the dimensions of the shipping containers, measuring nine-feet-six-inches tall and eight-feet wide.

This outdoor chair from designer Damian Velasquez is both striking and strikingly comfortable—you might not believe you're sitting on metal. The mesh design is sturdy, but has just enough give to conform to your body. The heat-dispersing, wind-resistant powder-coated stainless steel construction makes it a smart addition to your yard.

O Table by Half 13 $2,800 This curvy powder-coated stainless steel outdoor table, fabricated by Damian Velasquez in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is available in nine vibrant colors.

In Mathesius’s office on the third floor, an antique armchair, a rug, and a bookshelf made from salvaged wood create a cozy, sun-filled reading nook.

Wooden decks can be added to heighten the indoor-outdoor living experience.

Landscape architect Kevin Campion went to great lengths to protect the poplar trees during construction. Delta Millworks charred the cedar gable fronts following the shou sugi ban technique.

A Rafa Kids swing hangs below the loft bed near the large desk designed for playing with Legos.

Shumaker Design + Build Associates honed in on natural light, rich tones, and earthy materials to update this Chicago kitchen. The renovated kitchen now boasts a ten-foot-long banquette paired with a West Elm table, offering seating for everything from quick breakfasts to grand dinners.

Vanna Venturi House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1964)Robert Venturi's home for his mother is considered by many to be the first postmodern building. With its green hue, unusually tall chimney, stairs leading to nowhere and oversize fireplace with stairs squeezed around it, the house is what the architect called his "manifesto against Modernism."

Light pine finishes make the interiors feel airy and spacious.

An opaque sliding glass door separates the bathroom from the dining area. White tile with pink-colored grout ties the two spaces together.

A pool cage with a retractable awing makes the pool deck feel like a natural extension of the home's interior, while the terraced construction lifts the building up above the level of floods and storm surges.

With the help of architects X+L Studio, Nynke Meeuwissen and Mark Aink rehabilitated an old school outside of Amsterdam into a comfortable roost for their family of five. The former gym—with original herringbone parquet floors—is now the living room, furnished with Minotti sofas, a Danskina rug, and a Gyrofocus wood-burning stove.