Every space, including the living and dining sections seen here, has “furniture, objects and artworks that bring us memories,” says Smud. The bench, coffee tables, and dining table are by the late Alejandro Sticotti.

More than 4,000 people have visited the home since it was constructed last fall. The home's exterior is actually a fabric skin you can touch, a better physical experience than plaster, and part of the architect's vision for more comfortable living. "How does the building smell, is there temperature distribution all over the building, does the air flow?" he says. "We need to design the tactile parts of a building, too."

A self-learning heating and power system inside the home utilizes a series of radio sensors inside and outside, as well as on the home's electric cars, to constantly compare and learn, not only adjusting to temperature differences and behavioral patterns but forecasting them. If it's going to be warm tomorrow, the home will anticipate when to stop heating the home and divert the overflow to the Le Corbusier building. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart studying the home have nearly nine months of data to work on, and after a family begins living in the home this spring, they'll be able to improve the system's performance with real-world data.

While architect Werner Sobek chose the name "active house," a contrast to the passive house philosophy of efficency and conservation, the incredible energy production achieved by the B10 wouldn't be possible without a next-level envelope. Utilizing opaque surfaces and a vacuum-insulated, frameless glass front, the model home achieves a super-tight seal; the terrace even folds up to completely shield the home from sun when residents are gone. "When we started building these research homes in 2000, we were making passive homes, but have always wanted to get around the limits of small windows and lots of insulation and make something active," says Sobek. The home is outfitted with Knoll furniture and kitchen furnishings by Leicht Küchen and Hansgrohe.

This flexible prototype, which can be subdivided with partitions for a more defined floor plan, will be a model for further developments, according to Sobek. He wants to bring these advances to taller, six- or eight-story structures and reduce the time it takes to install this prefab home from 24 to 18 hours, creating plug and play technology that can be a boon for future urban development. "As urban centers become more and more dense, these prefabricated units make more and more sense," he says. "They're light, require no workers on site or stir up any dust. Within the next 12 months, we will see several variations and the next generation of B10."

The shower seat cleverly repurposes an original (but already blocked out) chimney breast recess.

This exposed log-burning fireplace appears as if it has been carved out of the chimney breast.

"This is a prototype module of the Active Modular Phytoremediation Wall System, or AMPS, created by the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology. CASE combines the forces of SOM and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to align buildings more closely with nature, and to that end, AMPS capitalizes on plants' ability to clean the air that circulates inside them. By channeling stale air across plants’ best air-purification mechanisms, AMPS reduces buildings’ need to pump in fresh air from outdoors. This invention grows out of NASA research concerning the health of astronaut, and will touch down in the SOM-designed Public Safety Answering Center II call facility in the Bronx later this year."

The Active House sits on a sloping plot on the outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark, with views to the south over the sea.

Bias Block : Walnut This handmade walnut block is not only rich and beautiful but practical for catching juices when carving the holiday bird or roast.

Because no room is compartmentalized and isolated as in a conventional home, every room can be an active space during the day and a sleeping space at night.

Brandon Dean of Dean Works used two types of stone in the kitchen: a lighter, more active marble for the countertops and backsplash, and a tamer, dark soapstone for the kitchen island.

The sunken living room is just one of many grade changes inside the structure. “We were adamant that we didn’t want something domestic,” says Andrew. “We wanted something surprising, that was hyper-animated, and that, when you moved through it, changed all the time.” The sofa, designed by the couple and Levenbetts, is upholstered in cotton velvet. The Habibi side tables are by Philipp Mainzer for e15, the fireplace tools by Fort Standard, and the doors by Fleetwood.

The 260-square-foot Hytte module features tall ceilings of up to nearly 12 feet. Multiple windows fill the interior with natural light and frame views of the outdoors.

Stepstone's narrow concrete pavers add a graphic touch to the garden.

When designer Hilton Carter furnished the industrial-style Baltimore apartment and work studio he shares with his wife Fiona, their dog Charlie and two cats Zoe and Isabella, he created a wondrous indoor woodland that offers all the benefits of being outdoors without leaving home.

The colors used in the interior were inspired by the surrounding landscape. The kitchen island is clad in solid timber fluting crafted from durable plantation-grown iroko with with a granite top. “The green-blue-brown color of the granite benchtops very much reminded me of the colors of the water in the nearby harbor of Tutakaka,” says architect Belinda George.

A custom sofa was installed on the far side of the bathroom for even more space to relax.

"A well-performing house extension facing south on a small inner-city block built in rammed earth is not easy to achieve," said Welsch. "However, in this challenge was our opportunity: We decided that our extension will curl around to capture the sun, creating a communal courtyard and allowing the occupants to look at their own house rather than a paling fence."

Double doors connect the outside to a main living space in this “garden cottage” ADU.

Various Artists

Breast lift Johannesburg

Venetian Plaster Chimney Breast

An existing brick chimney breast is reutilized as the backsplash for the range.

The sculptural chimney breast and 60-inch void skylight accentuate the height of the room.

The children enjoy larger bedrooms in the Active House than at their old place. Anna loves the ladder up to her sleeping deck. The furniture is by the Danish firm We:Do:Wood. The interior Douglas fir is from Dinesen.

Taxa's 2019 Cricket camper is designed for active travelers and starts at $29,000.

Large-scale sliding doors divide the active zones at the front of the home from the quiet zones in the rear.

Secret passageways and surprise design elements abound in this playful home renovation for an active family of five.

For an escape from bustling San Francisco, architect Craig Steely and his wife Cathy have created a modernist getaway on a lava field next to a black sand beach on Hawaii’s Big Island. Fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the ocean, the steel-framed home is one of several homes that Steely built on the recently active lava field.

This elevated prefab cabin along the Chilean Andes has a buffer zone that helps protect it against harsh climatic conditions. The 1,033-square-foot Casa R opens up to a "chiflonera," an intermediate space between the interior and exterior commonly found in Patagonian homes.

The home reinterprets the city's building code, which governs the use of stone in the seismically active region.

Not easy to make a fellow genius look like a schlub, but double-breasted beats sweatshirt any day.

Settled on a picturesque hillside in Somona, California, the Connect 5 residence features stunning floor-to-ceiling windows, which allow warm natural light to flood through the home.