Resident Brian Whitlock saved some serious cash by taking on much of the construction and electrical work himself.

Kate’s father predicted they would never use the crow’s nest–like tower, which is reached by climbing a narrow staircase.

KB Homes builds infill multi-family LEED buildings throughout the Los Angeles area, including the Asher building in Playa Vista. The project's developer, architect, and key sustainability consultants will share their experience with the Dwell on Design audience.

Green roofs are aesthetically pleasing and have multiple positive environmental benefits, even if they are small in terms of square footage. Here, a green roof blooms atop the detached garage of a home.

“We sought to create a house that would not damage the environment and not be too visible,” says architect Tina Gregorič. A single zigzagging roof stretches over 5,380 square feet, doubling the area of the interior spaces and serving as an ideal spot for sunset cocktails and whale-watching.

The large patio leads to a newly landscaped back garden. An expansive glass wall promotes seamless indoor-outdoor living. Inexpensive brick pavers were chosen for the rear patio; they offer textural contrast with the steel of the door, brick of the rear facade, and pale gray wood of the interior floors.

“One of the goals of Zenkaya was to create employment in a country crippled by [an unemployment rate of over 25 percent],” explains the architect, who likes to call himself a social entrepreneur.

Tuned into its sylvan setting, this affordable green home in Hillsborough, North Carolina, is a modern take on the surrounding centuries-old structures. The bright green paint on its facade contrasts with the Cor-Ten steel cladding.

Designed by Atelier Lina Bellovicova, House LO marks the country’s first residential project to use hempcrete, a sustainable and fire-and-mold-resistant materil.

In Hillsborough, North Carolina, local firm Tonic completed a modern home at a modest $155 per square foot. Its in-house team of skilled builders constructed the house and crafted the custom touches without subcontracing—a costly and common undertaking. They also reined in expenses by using readily available materials, like oak and steel. Though the home is nearly 800 square feet larger than their previous residence, the residents’ energy bills average 30 percent cheaper thanks to spray foam insulation, tightly sealed ducts to reduce drafts, low-e glazed windows, and Energy Star appliances. Photo by Richard Leo Johnson.

Roofreader Though they may look like architecture school run amok, the steep pitches and cants of the roof have everything to do with the home’s ecological agenda. By creating a series of green roofs, maximizing daylighting and water catchment, and optimizing the positions of light tubes and building-integrated photovoltaic panels, the roof is a canny mix of passive solar design and state-of-the-art technology.

The master suite on the second level features a terrace and a lofted area.

Their tenants include veterinary student Leslie Carter and intern architect Brad Raines.

Landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand helped fill out the completed prefab by planting sedge grass on one of the house’s two green roofs to reflect the texture of the surrounding meadow.

One-Family Custom Housing: Olson Kundig Architects created this home in Washington's remote Methow Valley as four structures oriented around a central courtyard, each positioned to best enjoy the surrounding vistas in all four seasons.

One of the home's bathrooms features wallpaper from Etsy retailer AwallonDesign.

The two structures are connected by green space.

Navy Green Supportive Housing (Architecture in Formation) The bright red structure, called a "billboard building" by the architects, is meant to be a symbol and anchor for the mixed-income Navy Yard development. A cutting-edge home for the chronically homeless, the building's interior and garden—complete with a "rampitheater" for those with mobility issues—has won awards for its user-centric design.

Large sliding glass doors suspend the living room within the landscape for family gatherings or larger events.

The relationship between interior and exterior becomes crucial in the articulation of the residence.

The first floor consists of two long and narrow structures that intersect in an open kitchen, providing distinct programmatic areas and settling into the tree-lined landscape, allowing yards to surround and permeate each room.

The three units in the Belfield Homesare the first certified Passive House homes in Philadelphia. Designed by Plumbob, the project is a model for low-income urban infill development, providing sustainable homes for those who can least afford to absorb rising energy costs. It is a finalist in the single-family home category.

Plant Wall Design created a custom, self-sustaining vertical green wall for the show.

Maximizing daylight is only one of the sustainable design strategies used in the Low/Rise residence.

The Element House stands on pylons, creating the illusion of it hovering over the desert floor. Nine thermal chimneys, one of which can be seen right, channel hot air out from the interior living areas.

Ryan Anderson of RAD Furniture designed the stools as well as the table and benches on the pool deck.

On the outskirts of Austin, Texas, author Chris Brown and his dog Katsu head to the river; the path was once a dumping ground on top of a long-defunct underground oil pipeline. The green roof was conceptualized by John Hart Asher of the Ecosystem Design Group at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin.

The couple initially painted partition walls between the children's room and their own with black metallic paint creating both a writing surface for the children and a magnetic bulletin board for notes. However, "the black looked too oppressive," Astrakhan says. So they applied several coats of lively lime green paint to brighten up that section of the house.

Rian and Melissa Jorgensen's 2 Bar House in Menlo Park boasts all the usual green design suspects: energy-efficient lighting, good insulation, renewable material finishes, radiant heat, and the roof is pre-wired for future PV panels. Still, one of the homeowner's favorite aspect of green design is the living roof planted with succulents, aloe, viviums, and ice plants.

Emilio Fuscaldo sits in the garden outside the brick house that he designed for himself and his partner, Anna Krien, on a small subdivided lot in Coburg, a suburb north of Melbourne, Australia.

The sod roof is angled to create a sweeping elevation on approach and is planted with grass tussocks cut from the hillside during construction. “The tussocks camouflage the house, melting it into the landscape,” explains architect Kate Brown.

“I wanted to plant a green roof for its thermal mass, but I wanted it to be as natural as possible,” Liang says.