Karen White, David MacNaughtan, and their sons, Griffin and Finlay, hang out on the front deckof their narrow home in Toronto’s leafy Roncesvalles neighborhood. A narrow modernist composition of glass panes and purple brick, the house slips like a bookmark between two older buildings, a bright three-story abode on a lot narrower than most suburban driveways. Photo by Dean Kaufman. Read more about the small house here.

“Sustainability is very important to us,” lead architect Heather Dubbeldam says. “It is easy to design with passive systems, to use passive sustainable principles to influence the design and layout of the house.” Her team reduced the need for air conditioning and artificial lighting through carefully positioned doors and windows that draw in natural light and breeze. New insulation, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and low-energy lighting also minimize the homeowners’ dependence on utilities.

The architects created the illusion of more space by opening up the floor plan, repositioning the staircase and introducing sight lines to the large windows on the south side. Recurring black accents—from the dining room’s Serge Mouille light fixture to its tall bookcases—contrast the brightness of the crisp white walls. Walnut floors and lighter wood furniture like the Klaus Willhelm table and Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs cozy up the home, while colorful objects animate it. “We strongly believe that people do not need more space, they just need better-designed space,” Dubbeldam says.

The majority of windows are on the south facade to optimize solar gain.

“I love the master bedroom, with the geometry of the white-painted, angled roof lines and the varying shadows that this creates,” Dubbeldam says. The naturally lit space features built-in shelves and a floating desk that overlooks the street below through a tiny window. An aluminum Eames task chair and a Serge Mouille wall light adorn the space.

Active systems, in addition to thoughtful orientation and structural planning, help the structure become ultra efficient. The primary heating source throughout the house is radiant flooring connected to a geothermal system. Tedesco specified the Uponor Climate Control Network to operate the systems. "Every heating zone can be scheduled for setback," he says. "Then, through the communication and coordination of zone operation from main control panel that monitors the entire system, equipment and zones are cycled in harmony. The entire climate control system including the geothermal, ERV, A/C, and heat pumps is balanced to maintain optimal performance and occupant comfort. The Lutron Maestro lighting control, home entertainment, and security system can all be monitored and controlled remotely through a web-based program provided by the equipment supplier. The entire system has wireless access points throughout the house to ensure conductivity." The media room sofas are Ikea's Karlstad model, the rug is by Bev Hisey Textile Design, and the pendant is the Caprice by Viso.

Tedesco's father was a precision machinist and his uncles worked as welders and carpentry framers. As a tribute to his family's history, Tedesco made the blackened-steel-and-wood staircase a focal point—it can be seen from nearly every room in the house.

Privacy can often be an issue when living in such close proximity with your neighbors. Each of the units include their own private entrance and there are no shared walkways. Whether the unit has a deck or patio, all the units are separated by a wood wall to ensure privacy.

The team carried the concept of contrast through the exterior, juxtaposing the home’s 125-year-old red brick façade with vertical, black-stained cedar cladding at the back. “We wanted to celebrate the old alongside the new,” Dubbeldam says. Since the house is so well insulated, the extra heat that dark exteriors typically draw doesn’t penetrate beyond the boards’ surface.

Another simple, white kitchen with black countertops is this diminutive kitchen in Singapore. Light pours in through the large window, and a tiny but tasteful farmhouse kitchen table rests in the middle of everything.

In the Acadian village of Caraquet, YH2 Architecture raised two identical cabins on a site 200 feet from the sandy shores of Chaleur Bay. The home is inhabited by a single family and used as a vacation spot.

The living room is five steps down from the kitchen and office space and features textured black slate tile from Olympia Tile, Voyage Immobile sofas with Farniente collection upholstery (a wedding present from Flanders’s mother) by Roche Bobois, and a rug from Turkmenistan the couple picked up in Jerusalem. The sliding glass doors are by Loewen and the glazing above is by Inline Fiberglass. Sawatzky relied on Wayne Arsenault for the custom millwork and carpentry.

Composed of 220 aluminum "light shelves," the solar reflector screen is the focal point of the front façade. The home takes advantage of its Southern exposure, using the reflector screen to funnel sunlight and warmth deep into the interior space.

A deck is located off the dining area.

Locally sourced Canadian plywood was used for the flooring throughout the home, and all doors and windows were replaced with low-energy upgrades. The couple shares their space with guide dogs they foster through a local organization.

“The walnut unit between the kitchen and dining room ties into the fumed oak floor,” Dubbeldam says. “The rest of the materials in the house—glass, marble, stone—were selected to offset the wood.”

Studiopietropoli created two houses on one site, each with fluid connections to the surrounding garden. A green roof creates a portico between them.

The architects knocked out the kitchen’s back wall, where a single window had formerly let in a miniscule amount of light, and installed sliding glass doors instead. A soothing charcoal accent wall anchors the bright white cabinetry and Corian countertops, while pendant lights by Alvar Aalto hang above an oak island. The fixtures are from KWC, Dornbracht, and Catalano.

The structure has a 60/40 ratio of walls to windows, a figure that was achieved through computer modeling. "This ratio balances the amount of high R-value solid wall to glazing to create an overall building envelope for optimum thermal performance," Tedesco says. "This ratio was fine-tuned and tested using computer modeling that incorporated site-specific information such as building orientation, and the surrounding infrastructure such as neighboring houses and trees. The end result was an envelope design and window placement strategy that optimizes seasonal daylight cycles, maximizes solar gains in the winter, increases the level of interior natural daylighting, and considers views of the surrounding neighborhood." Because the residents are sensitive to noise, the walls feature extra insulaton, especially in the bedrooms and media rooms.

The home’s emphasis on light and linearity is evident even from the street, where carefully placed windows and a combination of stained cedar and Eternit cement-fiber panels create a stunning silhouette.

Provenzano says the mullion-less glass corners were sited to be as close to the outside perimeter as possible to provide an crystal-clear viewing experience.

The horizontal layout of the home allows for easy movement throughout the interior, while the line of the continuous roof seems to extend into the trees. Enlarging the opening of the home allowed for impressive views of the river and surrounding area.

While the house is spread over two stories, Tedesco alotted space for an elevator, should the residents have mobility issues down the line. The pendants are Spillray by Axo and the windows are Loewen.

Toronto designer Julia Knezic built this house for her own family in a narrow lot next to her mom's house. Photo by Sean Galbraith. Check out the interiors here.

“The original stairs were not lined up vertically, which took up much of the internal space,” Dubbeldam explains. The architect replaced them with black walnut wood risers that seem to float from the basement to the third floor, allowing light to spill into the house’s once-dark interior.

The kitchen also displays a reliance on natural materials and soft colors. For the wine storage area, Roundabout Studio used reclaimed wood from the original building. The new dining room table also utilizes repurposed studs salvaged from the building’s demolition. The kitchen stools are from Avenue Road, the dining room table is custom, and the pendant light is from Dark Tools.

The outdoor deck is made from ipe. The wood was selected to complement the fumed oak flooring inside the house. “We carried the level of design detail throughout [the property] because we wanted the exterior to feel like an extension of the living space, especially for entertaining, but also as a connection to the coach house,” Dubbeldam says.

Metals broker S. J. Sherbanuk (left) and designer James Campbell (right) created a new home in Collingwood, Ontario, with old scrap. "Repurpose, refurbish, recycle" was the guiding principle for the project. The modern, metal fireplace becomes a sculptural feature of an outdoor deck.

Located in La Jolla, San Diego, the backyards of these twin homes offer stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. Photo by: Bryce Duffy

In the dining area, a single glass expanse provides a view to the backyard. "All of our efforts surrounding the glass are to make spaces have no visual barriers between inside and outside," says Provenzano.

A view of the home's rear facade, prior to the renovation and extensive landscaping updates, featured paneled windows and a darker palette.

The home's newly renovated rear facade, which contains the kitchen and dining room, were aligned along the same axis as the backyard pool to create unified, linear sightlines across the property.

Claude Cormier’s design for Sugar Beach in Toronto is borne from the same spirit of reclaiming public space.