A small terrace outfitted with an H55 easy chair by Björn Hultén offers a view of the San Francisco Bay.

Protected by an overhang, and floating above ground level, this tertiary space is known in traditional homes as the "engawa." To sustain a unified look throughout, the floor and ceiling are clad in ipe wood.

“There is a lot of glass so you can enjoy the view and the outdoor lifestyle even inside,” Henrik explains. “You live in the middle of the weather somehow. It’s a really harsh environment, as you have these southwesterly winds blowing through the house. But it is really beautiful as well.”

Wood from the property’s felled trees was incorporated into every room in the 3,000-square-foot house.

Located in California’s Sugar Bowl neighborhood, this shadowy lair by Mork-Ulnes Architects looks like something out of fairy tale. "We call the house Troll Hus, with a reference to the otherworldly beings in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore that are said to dwell in remote mountains," architect Casper Mork-Ulnes says.

Architects: Kirsten Murray, Tom Kundig

After years of visiting the area as vacationers, one couple builds this striking home for their retirement outside Greenwater, Washington. A fireplace can be used on the rear patio and in the living room, making it feel like one cohesive space. Ipe planks, the same wood that’s used in the front courtyard, cover the floor.

Designed by Tham & Videgård Arkitekter, this house is located in the outer region of the Stockholm archipelago. To keep expenses low, the architects opted for a simple gabled design and simple materials—the sheet metal facade and OSB walls within, for instance.

The family are avid fans of watersports of all stripes: “Windsurfing and the stand-up paddling board—the beach is right outside,” says Henrik. “It’s a fun house.”

Marco V. Morelli says his Studio Shed is the perfect refuge. “It’s changed my life for the better,” he says. “I’ve gotten so much more work done, and I think my marital relations are much better because I have a place of my own.”

"The most challenging part of the design was fusing the old part of the house with the new addition," says principal architect Alex Terry. The character and architectural integrity of the single-level 1950s ranch house was thoughtfully reconsidered during the addition and remodel. The home’s front porch, typical of the period, was refreshed with Ipe decking and railing.

Along with its durability, concrete requires very little maintenance.

Get the whole family involved in the kitchen, whether it be teaching young ones a tried-and-true recipe or exploring a new dish together.

Architect Gregory Phillips connected the original house to a new modern extension that doesn’t interfere with the surrounding houses. “I try to be true to the location,”he explains, “so it doesn’t seem like some spaceship has landed.”

An ipe deck slopes sharply skyward behind Amy Persin’s house in Menlo Park, California, creating a secluded backyard getaway that feels like an outdoor extension of her living room. A single step on either side leads to patches of gravel, which her children have claimed as areas for unstructured play.

The limestone-clad volume at the east end of the house extends to the second story, housing Shino and Ken’s master suite, which opens onto the planted roof deck.

The space is also adorned with timber cladding, as seen on the entry door.

Different exterior finishes demarcate each section of the building; the client’s home is identified by rich ipe wood with windows that fan outwards to allow fresh breezes inside. The other two parts are clad in stucco, a challenging material to work with, O’Neill says, because they had to scaffold and apply it in a single day to create a seamless look.

This 3,200-square-foot structure was assembled with a prefabricated foundation, concrete panel siding, and efficient built-ins, minimizing construction debris and toxins—such as concrete foundation tar—on the site.

The simple materials and forms represent continuity with traditional Acadian architecture. The retreat is sheathed in metal sheets.

With its reclaimed-wood cladding, the kitchen is a rough-and-ready backdrop for the family’s tableware.

For a cost-conscious 2,000-square-foot renovation located 30 minutes outside of Austin, Texas, architect Nick Deaver took a look around for inspiration. He spied galvanized metal cladding on the region’s sheds and co-opted the inexpensive, resilient material for his own design.

IKEA chairs join a table from CB2; a Kawneer triple-sliding door opens to the family’s new ipe deck.

The larger volume of the addition, consisting of kitchen, living, and dining spaces, loops around to the smaller bedroom through a wooden passage. The same ipe, with differing finishes, is used for both the interior and exterior. Expansive sliding glass doors by Fleetwood dramatically open up the living space to the outdoors.

The trip from garage to first floor is through a wood-clad spiral staircase that resembles a giant slatted barrel.

The exterior timber cladding is coated with black tar, a traditional Norwegian treatment. The finish serves a variety of purposes: solar heat gain, water resistance, and insect repellant.

Birdsall and Atticus are seated on an ipe bench designed by Anna Boeschenstein; the stucco exterior cladding was matched to Cast Iron 6202 paint by Sherwin-Williams.

The architect placed the windows at Sabrina’s eye level so that she’d be able to see her son, Rocco, playing in the yard outside. "You can feel the seasons changing here," says Chiavelli. "I grew up three miles from here, outside in nature. This is a house for experiencing life."

In a Manhattan Beach home, homeowner Matt Jacobson and architect Michael Lee designed the long steel-and-Ipe bench surrounding a square, concrete outdoor fire pit, which suspends from the low concrete wall in their outdoor space. Dukes relaxes on a Willy Guhl Loop chair with her German Shepherd, Major.

A landscape of native grasses designed by GSLA Studio complements the raw textures of the concrete-and-ipe front facade.

Oskar and Karl, 12 and 9, share breakfast at their family’s summer getaway in Sweden. The table is from ILVA, and the CH36 chairs by Hans Wegner are from Carl Hansen & Søn.

Yang Yeo and his girlfriend Ching Ian relax on the back stoop of their renovated and radically updated Singapore shophouse—an archetypal building type in this busy port city. “Shophouses brought back memories of our childhood,” says Yeo.

Miha hangs out with Kea, the dog, on the wooden deck that extends the living space outdoors.

This room can be a family room, office, or guest suite. The flooring is the same throughout: Riva Floors, Engineered Wood Select Grade, in Crystal Thunder, and the couch is from Restoration Hardware. Unseen is the foosball and ping pong tables.

The beanbag chairs and outdoor sofa and chairs are from West Elm and the Case Study Museum Bench is from Modernica.

The home’s metal cladding is Pac-Clad, a material typically used for roofs.