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Custom Housing

The owners of the Low Country Residence in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, sought a view of the adjacent Shem Creek. Frank Harmon Architect delivered a long, thin house form, amply glazed, with porches from which to enjoy the view. The west-facing glassy facade risked an unwanted greenhouse effect that would have wasted energy and increased utility bills, so the architects designed a distinctive array of sunshades that recall the shutters of Charleston's historic vernacular.

The 700 Palms Residence in Venice, California, designed by Ehrlich Architects, is distinguished by a sleek lap pool along the length of the house beneath a steel canopy outfitted with rollaway shades to protect the pool and open house from the harshest sunlight.

The Miller Hull Partnership's Chuckanut Drive Residence in Bellingham, Washington consists of a 1,400-square-foot (130-square-meter) main house and a guest house fused with a garage on a wooded cliff in overlooking Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands. The project expanded a home built in the 1940s and renovated in the 1980s. The latest transformation, designed by firm partner Bob Hull, utilizes a series of sliding doors that allow the house and its outdoor patio to quickly become a continuous space.

Two of the custom home projects consist of several separate cabins, each of which can be sealed off and, thus, cooled and heated only as needed. One is the House on Hoopers Island in Church Creek, Maryland, by David Jameson Architect; the other is Cinco Camp (not pictured here) in Brewster County, a remote part of west Texas, by Rhotenberry Wellen Architects.

The jury likened Cinco Camp's distinctive and sculpturally spare yet practical look to a modern day Stonehenge. Shipping containers were used in the construction, with rectangular cottages clad in the familiar rusty corrugated metal. Given that a railroad in the far distance is the only man-made intrusion into this landscape of rolling hills, the containers as materials feel a bit like trendy architectural recycling.

In designing the Glade House in Lake Forest, Illinois — located in a historic district, subject to strict municipal review, and near large single-family homes — Frederick Phillips and Associates drew on the area's past agrarian traditions. Yet although it has a familiar-looking split roof and wood siding, like many a farmhouse, Glade House's unusual geometry makes it look almost as if two or three smaller structures have been stacked on top of each other.

The Laidley Street Residence in San Francisco, designed by Zack/de Vito Architecture, is a series of stacked glass and concrete boxes, Inside, an intricate staircase with translucent acrylic treads and risers connects the house's three stories Designed and built for the firm principals, architect-builders James Zack and Lise de Vito, the home is energy-efficient and features environmentally sensitive, low-toxicity materials.

Tsao & McKown Architects designed the House at Sagaponac as a series of glass and wood cubes carved into the ground in Wainscott, New York. The house is part of a development in the chic Hamptons east of New York City, first envisioned by the late developer Harry Coco Brown in the 1990s, with homes by Richard Meier, Zaha Hadid, and others. The relatively modest way the Tsao & McKown home is built into the ground seems to show deference to the surrounding properties.   >>>

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Frank Harmon Architect designed the Low Country Residence in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Photo: © Richard Leo Johnson Photographer/ Courtesy Frank Harmon Architect Extra Large Image At the Low Country Residence, operable shading devices along the outside edge of a long patio can be pivoted up to 90 degrees, depending on shading needs. Photo: © Richard Leo Johnson Photographer/ Courtesy Frank Harmon Architect Extra Large Image Colorful rolled canvas shading minimizes heat gain on the metal walls of the 700 Palms Residence by Ehrlich Architects. Photo: © Erhard Pfeiffer/ Courtesy Ehrlich Architects Extra Large Image The 700 Palms Residence in Venice, California, includes many sustainable features, such as an evaporative cooling system, ample ventilation, and a rooftop photovoltaic array. Photo: © Erhard Pfeiffer/ Courtesy Ehrlich Architects Extra Large Image In Bellingham, Washington, the Chuckanut Drive Residence by The Miller Hull Partnership stands among evergreens near the eastern shoreline of Bellingham Bay. Photo: Benjamin Benschneider Extra Large Image The indoor and outdoor living spaces of the Chuckanut Drive Residence offer views of the bay and islands beyond. Photo: Benjamin Benschneider Extra Large Image The metal-clad House on Hoopers Island by David Jameson Architect overlooks an inlet of Chesapeake Bay, near Dorchester, Maryland. Photo: Paul Warchol Photography Extra Large Image Designed by Frederick Phillips and Associates, the Glade House in Lake Forest, Illinois, recombines simple farmhouse forms in unusual ways. Photo: Barbara Karant/ Karant and Associates Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.