Inspired by the Sydney Opera House, architects Andrew Maynard and Mark Austin paid careful attention to the extension’s “fifth elevation"—the way it’s seen from the sky. Its tiny houses, clustered at the southern end of the property, are clad in white steel panels and western red cedar shingles, contrasting materials that emphasize their geometric forms.

Architect Jesse Garlick’s rural Washington vacation home references its rugged surroundings. The steel cladding has developed a patina similar to the ochre-red color of bedrock found in the area.

A narrow building next to the main structure houses storage and an outdoor kitchen.

A glowing home in Japan has milky-white, one-and-a-half-inch plastic sheets wrapped around the exterior to let in light and provide insulation.

Steel allowed Kunding to be playful with the staircase’s form.

A patterned steel frame serves as a front wall to the street, allowing for light and noise to penetrate the interior. The owners were adamant about the importance of integrating the culture and traditions of Saigon into their home, hoping their children would grow up with a knowledge of and appreciation for the city.

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

Seen in the architectural context of its London neighborhood, the house is all the more extraordinary: compact, materially innovative, and easy on the eyes.

In Sitges, Spain, Olson Kunding crafted a live-work house for two artists. Large panels of steel arch from the ground over the entrance, curving to create part of the building’s roof. Materials with a strong industrial aesthetic, including untreated steel and cast-in-place concrete, are used in the entry sequence, while the rear of the building opens to the landscape. Photo by: Nikolas Koenig.

“We wanted the exterior to be the artwork,” Ryan says.

Many tiny home dwellers develop eco-friendly habits when they downsize—like adopting a capsule wardrobe, carpooling more, and harvesting rainwater.

“The house is a piece of origami made out of triangular shapes, which we then draped over the landscape,” says Arbel.

“We sought to create a house that would not damage the environment and not be too visible,” says architect Tina Gregorič. A single zigzagging roof stretches over 5,380 square feet, doubling the area of the interior spaces and serving as an ideal spot for sunset cocktails and whale-watching.

The front door dissolves into the facade.

Since surrounding neighbors can overlook the one-story property, Thomson created a roof detail that is environmentally friendly and attractive: “the bio-diverse [green] roof is planted with indigenous species of flowers and grasses,” he says.

The rear facade.

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Typography guru Erik Spiekermann and his wife, designer Susanna Dulkinys, hate clutter. That’s why they love the super-sleek Berlin domicile they constructed to have just the right lines—and a host of energy-saving features behind the scenes. The stainless-steel Bulthaup kitchen "cost as much as a small house," said Spiekermann, though he did get a discount: Bulthaup is one of his clients.

The house that Kem Studio designed for Sarah Magill on a narrow lot in Kansas City has a steel facade with reclaimed cypress cladding near the entrance. The entire structure sits atop a steel foundation set on concrete piers that were driven into solid stone.

Built in a friendly suburb in Arnhem, the aluminum facade has a unique metallic powder coating which changes color according to light conditions.

At the rear of the house, exterior steel cladding by Vicwest updates the look of the facade, while a steel footbridge connects the garden to the main floor of the house

Even though it is technically within Seattle's city limits, this home on the shores of Fauntleroy Cove feels worlds away from the rest of the Emerald City.

Architect Sven Matt mixed basic shapes with rich details in this Austrian home. The lattice shell was hewn from silver fir sourced from a nearby forest. Eternit shingles clad the roof.

Gaffney's cousin lives in the house just in front. To give a bit of perspective, this photo was likely taken just feet in front of the waist-high wall that runs between the two houses's yards.

Bruce Thatcher and Kirsty Leighton behind their London home.

The Baumann family residence in Gowanus, Brooklyn, is all geometry up front, with a rectilinear grid of steel and cypress comprising the structure’s double facade.

Architect Andrew McAvoy created an earth-sheltered house in Scotland for Gavin and Angelique Robb and children Scarlett and Gus.

“The interest of this work lies in its simplicity,” LLaumett says. “The intelligence of the house depends on its placement and the materials that maximize its efficiency.”

It's traditional among homes in the region to enter through their backdoor, seen here. The door leads directly to the living room.

"We felt it was important to create continuity with nature, rather than compete with it," Soranno stated. "The connection with nature is what makes this place special."

The exterior of the Field House, designed by Wendell Burnette Architects in Ellington, Wisconsin.

For the facade, exposed to the constant salt air, the team considered everything from copper or zinc to Kynar-coated aluminum. Eventually, a sample of titanium was tacked up for six months and showed no wear. “Part of the green philosophy is not just what is cheaper; it’s what’s sustainable,” Cranston explains. “The titanium cladding was more expensive, but this is a house we plan to be in for the rest of our lives, so we wanted something that needed virtually no maintenance.”

“Initially the design had the studios completely separated from the main house with a sort of breezeway in between,” says Stern, who ultimately decided to physically connect them in a way that evokes walking through the outdoors. “The studios and breezeway are separated from the main house with pocket doors to create privacy when needed, and allow it to function as a separate guest suite for overnight visitors.”

The steel canopy protects the residents from Seattle’s notoriously rainy weather as they walk from the entry gate to the front door.