The Phinney Ridge Prefab House is a prefabricated modular home designed by Grouparchitect and built by Method Homes, the modular contractor, and Heartwood Builders, the site contractor. The Home was built offsite in modules that were shipped and assembled onsite in one day for this tight urban lot. The home features sustainable building materials and practices as well as a rooftop deck. For more information on this project, please visit: http://grouparch.com/portfolio_grouparch/phinney-ridge-prefab Photo credit: Chad Savaikie

The Phinney Ridge Prefab House is a prefabricated modular home designed by Grouparchitect and built by Method Homes, the modular contractor, and Heartwood Builders, the site contractor. The Home was built offsite in modules that were shipped and assembled onsite in one day for this tight urban lot. The home features sustainable building materials and practices as well as a rooftop deck. For more information on this project, please visit: http://grouparch.com/portfolio_grouparch/phinney-ridge-prefab Photo credit: Chad Savaikie

Pictured: Blue Bottle Berkeley, CA How can architecture reinforce a client's mission and ethos? Lincoln Lighthill Architect's design for this cafe near the U.C. Berkeley campus utilizes a modest material palette in innovative ways to create a subtle, elegantly textured environment that amplifies and engages with the experience of craft coffee making. At the front counter, individual service modules, each just a few feet wide and only two feet deep, create an intimate setting for interaction between barista and customer. Lighting, shelving, customer tables and acoustical baffles overhead all mimic the dash-dot language of the modules and lend a sense of ordered yet playful movement to the otherwise unremarkable concrete shell. Throughout the cafe, standard pine ACX plywood is elevated and expressed through stacking and exposing of the raw edge. At the service modules, sheets of 3/4” plywood are CNC-milled into “C” shapes and stacked to create solid blocks of edge-grain plywood, without seams or miters, their interiors digitally "carved out" for storage and equipment. The soffit above is faced with the same stacked material, concealing lighting and hvac equipment while highlighting the service area below. Face pine plywood cabinets, stainless steel plate and white solid-surface counters round out a restrained material palette. Custom furnishings provide a variety of seating and standing options for customers.

Natural raw materials, pops of brilliant colors and super-graphics, and an emphasis on creating a continuous flow from interior to exterior drove the redesign of the house for a growing creative family in Venice, California. The kitchen was relocated from the side to the newly opened back of the house. Expansive glazing of varying translucencies modulates and highlights key moments within the Venice House. Photos: Peter Williams

Haute Couture for the shower | The principle: 5 x 5 in. The possibilities: unlimited. The result: unmatched freedom of design! The modular Axor Starck ShowerCollection transforms the shower into a custom-made spa. Whether its the showerhead, the smooth shelf, dynamic speakers or brilliant light: the modules can be arranged in line with personal requirements and the respective architectural concept. All elements are distinguished by their minimalist linear contours based on a 5 x 5 inch square. Thanks to innovative design, perfect and individual creations can be realized. The Axor Starck ShowerCollection gives rise to elegant wellness worlds in the bathroom. For the ultimate in personality. | Available at www.shopstudio41.com

Natural raw materials, pops of brilliant colors and super-graphics, and an emphasis on creating a continuous flow from interior to exterior drove the redesign of the house for a growing creative family in Venice, California. The kitchen was relocated from the side to the newly opened back of the house. Expansive glazing of varying translucencies modulates and highlights key moments within the Venice House. Photos: Chris Hahn

The Phinney Ridge Prefab House is a prefabricated modular home designed by Grouparchitect and built by Method Homes, the modular contractor, and Heartwood Builders, the site contractor. The Home was built offsite in modules that were shipped and assembled onsite in one day for this tight urban lot. The home features sustainable building materials and practices as well as a rooftop deck. For more information on this project, please visit: http://grouparch.com/portfolio_grouparch/phinney-ridge-prefab Photo credit: Chad Savaikie

Because of its proportions and placement, the foyer is effectively an integral part of the great room. Interest was added by flanking it with see-through wine cellar on one side and modulated chests and mirrors on the other.

A residence designed for informal gathering and relaxation on a quiet cove near Acadia National Park. Conceived of as a compound of connected gathering spaces with adjacent private retreat spaces. The "village" of structures is designed to open and close seasonally with large sliding barn doors. These also modulate light, air and views into and out of the cottages. Carefully positioned to take advantage of the rich variety of views and sloping topography, the cottages have integral terraces and retaining walls to negotiate the undulating land-form. One arrives at the high point of the site and the long barn axis and navigates between the cottages to the main entrance. Once inside, the home deliberately reveals unique views to the ocean, mountains and surrounding spruce forest.

This modern green home offers both a vacation destination on Cape Cod near local family members and an opportunity for rental income. FAMILY ROOTS. A West Coast couple living in the San Francisco Bay Area sought a permanent East Coast vacation home near family members living on Cape Cod. As academic professionals focused on sustainability, they sought a green, energy efficient home that was well-aligned with their values. With no green homes available for sale on Cape Cod, they decided to purchase land near their family and build their own. SLOPED SITE. Comprised of a 3/4 acre lot nestled in the pines, the steeply sloping terrain called for a plan that embraced and took advantage of the slope. Of equal priority was optimizing solar exposure, preserving privacy from abutters, and creating outdoor living space. The design accomplished these goals with a simple, rectilinear form, offering living space on the both entry and lower/basement levels. The stepped foundation allows for a walk-out basement level with light-filled living space on the down-hill side of the home. The traditional basement on the eastern, up-hill side houses mechanical equipment and a home gym. The house welcomes natural light throughout, captures views of the forest, and delivers entertainment space that connects indoor living space to outdoor deck and dining patio. MODERN VISION. The clean building form and uncomplicated finishes pay homage to the modern architectural legacy on the outer Cape. Durable and economical fiber cement panels, fixed with aluminum channels, clad the primary form. Cedar clapboards provide a visual accent at the south-facing living room, which extends a single roof plane to cover the entry porch. SMART USE OF SPACE. On the entry level, the “L”-shaped living, dining, and kitchen space connects to the exterior living, dining, and grilling spaces to effectively double the home’s summertime entertainment area. Placed at the western end of the entry level (where it can retain privacy but still claim expansive downhill views) is the master suite with a built-in study. The lower level has two guest bedrooms, a second full bathroom, and laundry. The flexibility of the space—crucial in a house with a modest footprint—emerges in one of the guest bedrooms, which doubles as home office by opening the barn-style double doors to connect it to the bright, airy open stair leading up to the entry level. Thoughtful design, generous ceiling heights and large windows transform the modest 1,100 sf* footprint into a well-lit, spacious home. *(total finished space is 1800 sf) RENTAL INCOME. The property works for its owners by netting rental income when the owners are home in San Francisco. The house especially caters to vacationers bound for nearby Mayo Beach and includes an outdoor shower adjacent to the lower level entry door. In contrast to the bare bones cottages that are typically available on the Cape, this home offers prospective tenants a modern aesthetic, paired with luxurious and green features. Durable finishes inside and out will ensure longevity with the heavier use that comes with a rental property. COMFORT YEAR-ROUND. The home is super-insulated and air-tight, with mechanical ventilation to provide continuous fresh air from the outside. High performance triple-paned windows complement the building enclosure and maximize passive solar gain while ensuring a warm, draft-free winter, even when sitting close to the glass. A properly sized air source heat pump offers efficient heating & cooling, and includes a carefully designed the duct distribution system to provide even comfort throughout the house. The super-insulated envelope allows us to significantly reduce the equipment capacity, duct size, and airflow quantities, while maintaining unparalleled thermal comfort. ENERGY EFFICIENT. The building’s shell and mechanical systems play instrumental roles in the home’s exceptional performance. The building enclosure reduces the most significant energy glutton: heating. Continuous super-insulation, thorough air sealing, triple-pane windows, and passive solar gain work together to yield a miniscule heating load. All active energy consumers are extremely efficient: an air source heat pump for heating and cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and high efficiency appliances. The result is a home that uses 70% less energy than a similar new home built to code requirements. OVERALL. The home embodies the owners’ goals and values while comprehensively enabling thermal comfort, energy efficiency, a vacation respite, and supplementary income. PROJECT TEAM ZeroEnergy Design - Architect & Mechanical Designer A.F. Hultin & Co. - Contractor Pamet Valley Landscape Design - Landscape & Masonry Lisa Finch - Original Artwork European Architectural Supply - Windows Eric Roth Photography - Photography

Alhambra Series got its inspiration from china styled tiles that produced from cement one-by-one. It designed as middle modules, corner bordure and corner pieces in 20x20 cm size. Also, series ceramic glazed (çini style) patterns offers perfect option for designers who want to embrace provence style and use in their project.

Example of a transitional kitchen design in Dallas

This house is set on a sunny natural plateau, sheltered from the wind and enjoys magnificent views of Sutton Mounts and Echo. The layout of the house integrates harmoniously with the surrounding forest, opening to nature through large expanses of glass and terraces that connect the living spaces to the forest. A long roof shelters the house, its deep eaves acting as a sunshade and defining protected outside spaces. The wide south and east terraces, close to ground level, bring the house into contact with its site and enjoy lots of sunshine. A screen porch is strategically located to avoid blocking the primary views and provides access to the forest. The living living spaces are arranged in an open layout under a ceiling ceiling that reaches 12 feet in height, yet more intimate spaces such as the fireplace alcove modulate the spaces between the higher volumes. The construction will achieve Novoclimat certification and integrates among other things a radiant floor fed by a geothermal heating system. This project was completed in collaboration with engineers and Construction Boivin.

Inspiration for a transitional kitchen remodel in Dallas

Haute Couture for the shower | The principle: 5 x 5 in. The possibilities: unlimited. The result: unmatched freedom of design! The modular Axor Starck ShowerCollection transforms the shower into a custom-made spa. Whether its the showerhead, the smooth shelf, dynamic speakers or brilliant light: the modules can be arranged in line with personal requirements and the respective architectural concept. All elements are distinguished by their minimalist linear contours based on a 5 x 5 inch square. Thanks to innovative design, perfect and individual creations can be realized. The Axor Starck ShowerCollection gives rise to elegant wellness worlds in the bathroom. For the ultimate in personality. | Available at www.shopstudio41.com

It’s hard to beat the convenience of having a spa right outside your door. This 7’ x 7’ Bullfrog spa is fitted with a retractable thermal cover for year-round use. It features ‘JetPak’ interchangeable spa jet modules which allow the owners to reconfigure the spa to their own personal hydrotherapy preferences.

This wall or media unit is not like the others. It’s because, the unit is much more spacious, big and comes in a diverse range of colors. The best thing about this unit is it has assorted shelves and library modules. It is of the highest quality. Made by professional and experienced craftsman. Has a melamine board structure. Length: 333.2cm x Height: 182.1cm x Width: 35cm. The product is available for £ 1,999.00.

Because our lifestyles are changing but our rooms stay the same size, IMAGINE reworks spaces with made-to-measure storage modules. A concept with thousands of possibilities. Furnish your bedroom to suit your style and organize your wardrobe.

Creating a second residence on the property without losing the hierarchy of the main home required careful attention to the entry sequence and massing from the street. The new residence harmonizes with the existing home through careful siting and material coordination, while also differentiating through modulation of form and separation. Photo: Denise Retallack