A palette of stone, concrete, and greenery greets guests at the home’s front entrance.

Deep eaves prevent the entrance from being buried in snow. The clients can see directly into the valley and mountains below.

Working with a limited budget, First Lamp designed and built one principle architectural flourish: exposed Douglas fir rafters that would weather to a brighter red over the years and accent the white siding.

The entrance to the living room includes a seating area where guests can remove their shoes.

Entrance to the house

The entrance is reached via a long ramp perforated by uplights.

“There was too much visual pollution disturbing the simplicity. The goal was to allow the existing buildings to work within a totally new program, each still distinguishable by its own destiny.” —Architect Bart Len

The entrance of the home features slate flagstone flooring and midcentury furniture.

An exterior stairway meeting the main entrance leads to the guesthouse.

Front Door

House entrance

Harper sits on the porch just off the entrance. James notes that the children spend their time “swimming in the dam, feeding the chickens, and riding their ponies or bikes. It’s really just the simple stuff that we had when we grew up in the late ’70s and ’80s."

The carport leads to the entrance.

Dr. Kenneth Montague’s Toronto loft is both home and art gallery—and the ultimate party house, thanks to two kitchens, a rooftop deck, and no shortage of conversation pieces. In warm weather, Montague’s parties spill onto the roof deck. To encourage guests to explore, Peterson designed two built-in light fixtures, made from LEDs behind white acrylic panels, that cast a dramatic glow across the sauna’s custom-made wood door, designed by Peterson and crafted by carpenter Daniel Liebster.

A George Nelson pendant hangs in the reconfigured entrance hall, whose stairs echo the concrete steps off the back deck.

Reinforced concrete stands behind the stone facade to provide insulation. Vanotti wanted to focus this project on the simple materials of concrete, natural larch, iron, and wood.

Glass walls divide up the spaces throughout the home.

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An almost-concealed door designed as a part of the kitchen cabinetry leads to the main bedroom and en-suite bath.

Images by Raw Color hang in a room upstairs.

Fritz explains, “The primary inspiration was Dutch International Style design. The clients have roots in Holland and it started out looking more De Stijl than it does now, but ultimately, they wanted something that drew as much from their present in Hawaii as their past in Europe.”

The transparent walls are completely open to the entrance hall.

Backyard excavation created a sunken courtyard, where the side entrance to a new 750-square-foot office space lies. The exterior is clad in Corian, a surface normally found on countertops. "The clients love that they can go to another wing of the house and have an office," says Brooks. "There's a physical seperation. We’ve designed it so in the future, if they close the firm, they can open up the door between the office and the dining room and connect the entire basement floor."

Entrance door with the approach

The skylight over the home’s entrance “helps simulate a feeling of grandeur and creates an airy and welcoming atmosphere,” says Bjerre-Poulsen.

Architect David Hill, his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children (from left: Wade, eight, Luke, six, and Breyton, ten), have an unusual home by the standards of their college-town setting in Auburn, Alabama. Built in 1920, the industrial brick building has had previous incarnations as a church, a recycling center, and a pool hall, among others.

After entering through the front door, visitors pass over the large koi pond on a cast-concrete footbridge chiseled to look like stone.

For a cost-conscious 2,000-square-foot renovation located 30 minutes outside of Austin, Texas, architect Nick Deaver took a look around for inspiration. He spied galvanized metal cladding on the region’s sheds and co-opted the inexpensive, resilient material for his own design. He then applied locally quarried Lueders limestone near the entrance—a warm contrast to the steely facade.

When renovating a house in McAllen, Texas, for his brother-in-law’s family, architect Luis López designed an overhang with concrete beams that protects the front entrance from the area’s frequent rain. A large front window was inserted to provide views through the house to the backyard.

A gently winding set of exposed aggregate concrete pads leads to the Wabi House’s front door. Mariscal sought to “hide the house behind a dense forest front yard.” As the crape myrtles grow in, they will further filter the home’s facade.

Front Walkway - A Hidden Service Entrance Door in the Cedar Siding uses a keyfob to electronically open the door.