Designed as gallery, studio, and residence for an artist, this house takes inspiration from the owner’s love of cubist art. The program includes an upper level studio with ample north light, access to outdoor decks to the north and south, which offer panoramic views of East Austin. A gallery is housed on the main floor. A cool, monochromatic palette and spare aesthetic defines interior and exterior, schewing, at the owner’s request, any warming elements to provide a neutral backdrop for her art collection. Thus, finishes were selected to recede as well as for their longevity and low life scycle costs. Stair rails are steel, floors are sealed concrete and the base trim clear aluminum. Where walls are not exposed CMU, they are painted white. By design, the fireplace provides a singular source of warmth, the gas flame emanating from a bed of crushed glass, surrounded on three sides by a polished concrete hearth.

Photography by David Phelps Photography. A warm modern custom designed and built home on the cliffs of Laguna Beach. Comfortable and livable interiors with cozy but graphic simplicity. Original custom designed furnishings, contemporary art and endless views of the Pacific Ocean. Design Team: Interior Designer Tommy Chambers, Architect Bill Murray of Chambers and Murray, Inc and Builder Josh Shields of Shields Construction.

Martin Gardner, spacialimages.com

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

Custom Home Magazine Design Award Winner 2010 - Custom Kitchen http://www.customhomeonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=224&articleID=1205663 Watermark Grand Award 2010 Fairfield Kitchen http://www.builderonline.com/design/hover-craft.aspx © Paul Bardagjy Photography

Renovated bathroom, with "view slot" through shower to creek below

Jeremy Bitterman

Photos Courtesy of Sharon Risedorph and Arrowood Photography

New home designed for a young family who desired to stay true to "modernism" without compromising meeting the needs of family. True to moderns philosophy the home utilizes standard modular materials and construction techniques. Simple geometric forms were manipulated to create protected outdoor spaces and framed views. Concrete walls anchor the home both structurally and metaphorically to the Earth. Interior and exterior spaces become intertwined through the aluminum/glass curtain walls. Photography: Phil McClain Photography

Architect: Rick Shean & Christopher Simmonds, Christopher Simmonds Architect Inc. Photography By: Peter Fritz “Feels very confident and fluent. Love the contrast between first and second floor, both in material and volume. Excellent modern composition.” This Gatineau Hills home creates a beautiful balance between modern and natural. The natural house design embraces its earthy surroundings, while opening the door to a contemporary aesthetic. The open ground floor, with its interconnected spaces and floor-to-ceiling windows, allows sunlight to flow through uninterrupted, showcasing the beauty of the natural light as it varies throughout the day and by season. The façade of reclaimed wood on the upper level, white cement board lining the lower, and large expanses of floor-to-ceiling windows throughout are the perfect package for this chic forest home. A warm wood ceiling overhead and rustic hand-scraped wood floor underfoot wrap you in nature’s best. Marvin’s floor-to-ceiling windows invite in the ever-changing landscape of trees and mountains indoors. From the exterior, the vertical windows lead the eye upward, loosely echoing the vertical lines of the surrounding trees. The large windows and minimal frames effectively framed unique views of the beautiful Gatineau Hills without distracting from them. Further, the windows on the second floor, where the bedrooms are located, are tinted for added privacy. Marvin’s selection of window frame colors further defined this home’s contrasting exterior palette. White window frames were used for the ground floor and black for the second floor. MARVIN PRODUCTS USED: Marvin Bi-Fold Door Marvin Sliding Patio Door Marvin Tilt Turn and Hopper Window Marvin Ultimate Awning Window Marvin Ultimate Swinging French Door

Vance Fox Photography

The entire composition is tied together by a rich and elegant material palette that includes steel-troweled stucco, exposed concrete block, stainless steel railings, walnut millwork, cast glass partitions and Rheinzink. (Photo: Matthew Millman)

For this house “contextual” means focusing the good view and taking the bad view out of focus. In order to accomplish this, the form of the house was inspired by horse blinders. Conceived as two tubes with directed views, one tube is for entertaining and the other one for sleeping. Directly across the street from the house is a lake, “the good view.” On all other sides of the house are neighbors of very close proximity which cause privacy issues and unpleasant views – “the bad view.” Thus the sides and rear are mostly solid in order to block out the less desirable views and the front is completely transparent in order to frame and capture the lake – “horse blinders.” There are several sustainable features in the house’s detailing. The entire structure is made of pre-fabricated recycled steel and concrete. Through the extensive use of high tech and super efficient glass, both as windows and clerestories, there is no need for artificial light during the day. The heating for the building is provided by a radiant system composed of several hundred feet of tubes filled with hot water embedded into the concrete floors. The façade is made up of composite board that is held away from the skin in order to create ventilated façade. This ventilation helps to control the temperature of the building envelope and a more stable temperature indoors. Photo Credit: Alistair Tutton