Working with a limited footprint, a daunting slope, and killer views, architect Bruce Bolander went vertical with a secluded canyon house in Malibu. A colorful, laminate-clad wall of storage stretches seamlessly from the kitchen to the bedroom, where a repurposed speaker stand serves as the bedside table. Photo by J Bennett Fitts.

“There’s a soulfulness in this small house that’s impossible to replicate in something completely new. The sweetness truly lingers," says architect Michael Lee.

The exterior features vertical, untreated cedar panels. “We tried to use materials that are beautiful in their natural state without excessive treatment or finishing,” Pavonetti says.

The glass and wood walls of the bathhouse, like other retractable panels on the house, offer shade with a view.

With São Paulo on one side and a terrace and garden on the other, the Strozenbergs’ living room feels vast. The sofa is a Harry Large by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia and the coffee table behind Ticiana Strozenberg (with baby) is a vintage design by Geraldo de Barros. The custom wood paneling throughout the house is by Fiamoncine, as are the window treatments.

The gabled house, constructed from precast concrete panels by Superior Walls with wood framing, offers a pared-down suggestion of a traditional New England silhouette. The exterior cedar paneling also appears on the ceiling of the custom-built chef’s kitchen inside.

Operable panels of the built-in cabinetry, in chocolate and caramel colors, offer cues to the color palette of more mobile furnishings. Using the same panel material, the architect customized a West Elm couch for the living room.

@designmilk: Loving these @stikwooddesign colors and patterns.

Among the first Passive Houses in France, this bamboo-clad farmhouse by the Parisian firm Karawitz Architecture only uses a tenth of the energy a conventionally constructed home does. Photo by Nicholas Calcott.

Henry and Emily share a bedroom and a bunkbed made by Ducduc, an American furniture company. Thanks to panel doors that slide into the walls, the bedrooms balance privacy with openness to the rest of the house. With a guestroom and trundle beds in the kids’ rooms, the 1,357-square-foot house can easily sleep four adults and five children—more if people crash on the couches.

The architects designed the large dining table, which is framed by the open kitchen, the wood-burning stove, and the garden beyond.

Janna Stark House - Charred Studs

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 tin panels lining the stairs are original to the house.

A linear sequence of eight, 12-foot bays extends the length of the home from rear bedrooms and an office to the open kitchen and living room space. The modest form, a reflection of the owners' desire for simplicity, required few materials: wood, concrete, and steel. Photo by Ron Johnson.

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.

A low window frames the view of the garden's quiet fountain, set within a series of basalt boulders. Wood paneled walls and slate floors are in keeping with the home's original 1949 materials.

Set amongst the trees, with its simple form and earthy adherence to wood, the home fits in well. "Veronica and I walked the land for many months before we decided where to put the house," says Hirsh. "We had picnics there. We sat looking east. We sat looking west. We sat looking south. The site felt wonderful." Photo by Ron Johnson.

Will demonstrates the post-beach shower ritual.

When Alex or Bruce leave the island, closing up shop is as simple as sliding panels of corrugated metal into place to protect the windows.

Steve Conine, a software engineer, installed and programmed many of the details himself, like the Dell UltraSharp flat-screen panels inlaid into the entryway of the home.

The renovated home maintains its original layout. To refresh the dated appearance of the space, Stonefox added cedar tongue-and-groove panels to the ceiling and refinished the floors. The living room rug is from Creative Matters, the WL Daybed is from Niedermaier, and the circular coffee table is a Tie and Die model from Holly Hunt.

The view from Bruce's cabin is a sight for sore eyes. One of the outermost inhabited islands on the American eastern seaboard, Criehaven (technically Ragged Island) is located 20 miles off the Maine coast and one mile south of Matinicus Island.

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

The units don't even require foundations—simple ground screws from Krinner are enough to support them.

The library’s entrance features massive panel doors made of tropical freijó wood. Inside, leather armchairs by Jorge Zalszupin accent the space.

Unlike its next-door neighbor, R-House, TED wasn’t originally planned to meet the exacting Passive House standard. The building’s green bona fides came largely from four roof-mounted thermal solar panels and a 120-gallon water storage tank that architect Tim McDonald attests would have met nearly all of the home’s heat and hot-water needs. After submitting the proposal, though, he completed a course in the Passive House standard. Inspired, McDonald modified the original approach, ditching the tank and thermal panels in favor of a highly insulated, airtight envelope—the equivalent, he says, of shielding the house from the harsh Syracuse winter with a fur coat instead of a windbreaker.

While it's not your traditional backsplash material, when properly prepared and treated, wood can make for an effective, functional, and beautiful backsplash. Here, the wood backsplash matches the wood of the nearby kitchen island in an otherwise white kitchen with white cabinetry.

Sliding wood panels made from Nogueira wood separate the bedroom area from the rest of the space. Eames chairs surround a Table B table by Konstantin Grcic.

@kelseykeith: Marbelous Wood by @snedkerstudio at #DODNY

The diminutive Morsø wood stove and its hearth of local Criehaven beach stone gives off enough heat to warm the entire cottage.

"We composed the house to have its highest, brightest space in the middle," says Paul Raff. Warm wood stairs lead to the second floor, which houses guest bedrooms, bath, and a kitchenette for the family's frequent visitors.

Before plopping panels on your roof, consider other ways to conserve electricity, like switching to CFL or LED lightbulbs and replacing inefficient electrical appliances like old refrigerators. “Conservation is the leanest means to reducing electrical use and fossil-fuel consumption,” Moore says. “PV panels require a lot of energy to produce, ship, install, and dispose of.”

The children’s rooms, which are reserved for family and an extended network of friends, feature more custom Crasset-designed beds set against a vivid blue backdrop, courtesy of the French paint brand Zolpan.

The couple stockpiles wood under the deck.

Using technology to design a home as energy-efficient as possible was a priority for Hague, both from a financial and philosophical standpoint. Along with Passive House certification for the main house, a solar array on the roof of the barn keeps energy use near zero. In fact, the entire property was Net Zero before the addition of the pool, and it may soon generate an energy surplus with the addition of a second solar array at the main house.