Modern glass house set in the landscape evokes a midcentury vibe. A modern gas fireplace divides the living area with a polished concrete floor from the greenhouse with a gravel floor. The frame is painted steel with aluminum sliding glass door. The front features a green roof with native grasses and the rear is covered with a glass roof. Photo by: Gregg Shupe Photography

Bauhaus-Look Wohnbereich

.rott .schirmer .partner Architektur

View Residence

Mohler + Ghillino Architects

A view of remodeled home from below shows the added floor with generous interior spaces and large windows taking advantage of the Puget sound views. The existing lower floor stone veneer and window openings were retained. photo: Alex Hayden

Find the right local pro for your project

Find top design and renovation professionals on Houzz

Berkeley Hills House

Yama Architecture

entry courtyard photo bruce damonte

Shoal Creek Custom Home Five Star Energy

Katz Builders, Inc.

http://www.studiomomentum.com Reclaimed Hardwood Flooring from original home was salvaged and used in master suite. Shaded by trees, screened porches on first and second floor along with copula and electronic sky light as well as electronic openers on windows in upper levels, provide a perfect ciphone to draw out the summer heat. Screened in porch on first and second floor linked by staircase from breakfast room to the master suite allow for the feel of being in a tree house to the master suite. Home owners don't turn on their air conditioning until mid June because of the comfortable environment provided by positioning the home on the site, overhangs and drawing cooler air through the home from the outside. The owners are proud that their 3400 sq ft home, during the hottest months, electric bills only run $150,00/month. Loft over Master bathroom and master closet overlooking a vista view. This Five Star Energy Home was designed by Travis Gaylord Young of Studio Momentum, Austin, Texas and built by Katz Builders, Inc.

High Ridge RoadHigh Ridge Road, Hartsdale, NY Contemporary

Domus Constructors, LLC.

“Compelling.” That’s how one of our judges characterized this stair, which manages to embody both reassuring solidity and airy weightlessness. Architect Mahdad Saniee specified beefy maple treads—each laminated from two boards, to resist twisting and cupping—and supported them at the wall with hidden steel hangers. “We wanted to make them look like they are floating,” he says, “so they sit away from the wall by about half an inch.” The stainless steel rods that seem to pierce the treads’ opposite ends are, in fact, joined by threaded couplings hidden within the thickness of the wood. The result is an assembly whose stiffness underfoot defies expectation, Saniee says. “It feels very solid, much more solid than average stairs.” With the rods working in tension from above and compression below, “it’s very hard for those pieces of wood to move.” The interplay of wood and steel makes abstract reference to a Steinway concert grand, Saniee notes. “It’s taking elements of a piano and playing with them.” A gently curved soffit in the ceiling reinforces the visual rhyme. The jury admired the effect but was equally impressed with the technical acumen required to achieve it. “The rhythm established by the vertical rods sets up a rigorous discipline that works with the intricacies of stair dimensions,” observed one judge. “That’s really hard to do.”