The glass-enclosed master bedroom floats above the corrugated, oxidized steel exterior.

Architect Tamira Sawatzky and artist Elle Flanders get an awfully good view of their busy Toronto street from their office and dining room.

The table is by Made, the sneaker-inspired Shoe Toss pendants are by Jeremy Hatch of Ricochet Studio, and the laser-cut photo on the wall is by the couple’s collective art and design practice, Public Studio.

In the living quarters of Lightroom 2.0, Carpenter’s daughter Esme chats with her boyfriend, who is seated on a Milo Baughman Case Sofa.

Lightroom 2.0 was inspired by artists’ lofts and Decatur’s industrial past. The gallery floors are polished concrete and the exposed joists are Georgia-Pacific engineered lumber.

After a 40-year-old pine tree fell over on a Brentwood estate in Los Angeles, the owner let it lie, and the continued to grow from its newfound horizontal position. He decided to incorporate it into a 172-square-foot office and guest house with the structure floating above the tree. Around the perimeter of the butterfly roof is a clerestory that gives the illusion that the roof is floating.

Carpenter kicks back on an IKEA outdoor sectional on the sealed-pine roof deck of Lightroom 2.0. A collection of vintage Tulip armchairs by Eero Saarinen surround a “Jetsons-inspired” fireplace from the 1970s found online.

The 52-foot-high roof deck overlooks Decatur Square. “The building may appear as an object, but someday, it’ll become the backdrop as all of it develops,” Carpenter says. The structure shares the lot with a 1920s bungalow containing a therapist’s office that abuts the first-floor gallery, as well as Lightroom 1.0.

On the lower roof, cedar decking and flower beds define one of several outdoor gardening spaces. Part of her ongoing research into the livability of cities, Fitzgerald aimed to create landscaped areas that were “aesthetic, aromatic, educational, and productive.” The deck is bordered by an expanded aluminum mesh railing and black metal corrugated panels.

Challenged by the dimensions of the narrow lot, the team worked through significant programmatic and logistical constraints during the design and construction process. The final concept for the layout was a modern take on the side hall plan. The living spaces are stretched back deep into the lot, and strategically raised above grade to allow sunlight to penetrate into multiple living spaces. The multifunctional courtyard serves as outdoor workspace, gardening area, children's play area, and covered parking during winter months.

Positioned on the ground floor, the office enjoys spacial privacy, while still having intimate interaction with the living area above and common courtyard.

This table is where Mark paints and assembles his bicycles; he built the table and the bike standing upon it. The tall roller cabinet is from Homak.

The floors are polished concrete, a money-saving move that allowed for splurges like the floor-to-ceiling windows from Chicago Tempered Glass set in Tubelite frames.

Located in Chicago’s West Town, the concrete shell of Upton’s Naturals headquarters was erected in just 48 hours.

This New York City home is studded with pieces by such famous names as Knoll, Saarinen, and Risom. Deployed throughout the loft, these modern icons at once unify and separate work and life. Like the architecture, they can be read two ways: as recognizably typical office furniture or as prized home-design collectibles.

Designer and digital fabricator Shawn Benson shares his 595-square-foot second-floor space with his wife, Jessica, and their daughter, Roux. The 15-foot-high ceilings allow plenty of room for a full-size ocean paddleboard.

A continuous concrete slab runs from inside the house out to the open deck, which is exposed to the wind that sweeps the surrounding fields.

With a sizable portfolio packed with innovative home, restaurant, retail, and office design, Cara Cummins and Jose Tavel of TaC Studios took their strategies for their clients to their own home. When choosing a site, the dynamic duo felt passionate about staying in the neighborhood they were so dedicated to help transform—a central, historic Atlanta community once tainted by its industrial past and years of street crime.

The floor plan.

The home’s front façade features an anodized aluminum and glass curtain wall by Kawneer that's framed by Vic West black corrugated metal panels. The board-formed concrete on the exterior enables passive solar absorption, allowing optimal heat retention on cold winter days. The metal and concrete exterior cladding offers cohesive dialogue with the neighboring industrial sheds and commercial buildings.

Windows fill the double-height manufacturing space with natural light.

Their creative confections may ruin our diets, but we’re happy to be their taste testers anytime.

A 500-square-foot outdoor space with a grill, a table, and a hammock sits just off the entrance level of the townhouse, offering extra room for dining, relaxing, and entertaining. The corner couch is a custom piece inspired by the large cushions of Moroccan sofas. The Fermob table is paired with Hay Hee dining chairs by Hay.

"This type of prefab is normally for quick-and-dirty construction. We tried to push the technology to make it as beautiful as possible.” —Sarah Dunn, designer

The office is a showcase that includes an Eames Storage Unit for Herman Miller, a wall-mounted Eames leg splint, and chairs by Eero Saarinen and Harry Bertoia for Knoll.

In the work space, custom shelving houses crafting materials (Blans is a keen needle woman) and objects, including toys from Blans's mother's childhood.

Jane and Dan Wright furnished the living space of their new studio building with a rug from West Elm and a wood stove from Morsø.

When he became the dean of Syracuse University's School of Architecture in 2004, Mark Robbins made a plan to help the city and, potentially, the entire country. “I wanted to see if we could build houses that simultaneously made propositions about sustainability and about the possibility of constructing houses in a city like Syracuse,” Robbins said. The result was three green homes for $200,000 each and the promise of more to come. Read more about the central New York project here.

Jane Wright, a painter and printmaker, uses one end of the building as a studio. The space served as a lanuching pad for her new interior design business, Roost Modern.

Using another service, Outback Power, Pendl can see how much energy he's drawing from (or sending to) the grid when his 450 watt wind turbine and 800 watts of solar panels are operating. This all being said, the trailer isn't yet fully integrated with smart technoly: climate control and HVAC are still a separate system. "Another nice addition down the road would be to add smart tires to the trailer so that I can monitor and adjust air pressure from afar," Pendl says. "I take the Airstream on some pretty bumpy forest roads—the high desert of Nevada for Burning Man included—and it'd be great to quickly see an adjust tire pressure for better traction."

The siding is locally milled native white pine, with plywood soffits and Andersen windows.

Oversize, double-hung windows draw natural light into the space.

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.

Davor (with his wife, Abbe, and son, August) designed the main living and dining pavilion as a double-height space to increase its perceived volume, and added high cubbies for extra storage.

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 stack of the artist's work sits in his live/work space's front window.