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Couple’s alleyway home feels like oasis farm in the middle of DC

by Kirsten Dirksen on March 31, 2025

Tucked away in a Capitol Hill alley, Jack Becker and Maddie Hoagland-Hanson’s Brown House is a lush oasis in the …
Northern Scandinavia’s forgotten lifestyle: family of 14 in remote cabin

by Kirsten Dirksen on November 18, 2024

In the far north, where life revolves around the sea, Birger’s father grew up in a world without cars, where …
Spent 5 years fixing old house-barn by hand. It was worth it

by Kirsten Dirksen on January 30, 2022

When Enrico Gri discovered the wild Orco Valley during a ski mountaineering trip, he fell in love with the idea …

Being outdoors all year without being outside: do courtyards make sense?

by Nicolás Boullosa on March 4, 2026

From the Alhambra to California backyards, an ancient architectural typology shows how patios, plants, and water create microclimates, social space, …

He lived on the street. Now turns raw dryland into frugal homestead

by Kirsten Dirksen on March 1, 2026

After being laid off with just $6,000 in savings — and having experienced homelessness — John started over. He left …

Male stuff: ensuring boys turn out decent adults (hint: it’s not hyperparenting)

by Nicolás Boullosa on February 26, 2026

Homecoming epics and schoolyard standoffs: raising decent boys in a culture that sells insecurity as manhood. Imagine growing up as …

4-generation family builds container fourplex atop giant missile silo

by Kirsten Dirksen on February 22, 2026

After purchasing a Titan II Missile Silo Complex in Arizona—decommissioned in 1983 and buried under concrete and dirt for more …

Homesteading from the Homestead Act to YouTube. A real American Dream?

by Nicolás Boullosa on February 19, 2026

The tools changed from axe and almanac to solar and smartphones, but the old wager remains: live deliberately, outside the …

Engineer’s underground dome home blends into desert like living organism

by Kirsten Dirksen on February 15, 2026

In 1983, engineer Greg Reinhart bought a patch of raw land in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert and began carving out a …

Invisible architecture: how the way we look at things shapes reality

by Nicolás Boullosa on February 12, 2026

We don’t just move through the world: we can help compose it with attention (and intention). The same street can …

They lived 3 years in a basement. Then built their dream backyard home

by Kirsten Dirksen on February 10, 2026

For 3 years, Mai Tran and Le Pham lived in a 300-square-foot basement beneath the house they’d just bought in …

Couple buys whole ghost village, tells others to join & fix their own ruin

by Kirsten Dirksen on February 1, 2026

On a freezing winter day in northern Spain, we arrived in Bárcena de Bureba, a ghost village in the remote, …

The housing ladder broke ages ago. What can prefab & modular do?

by Nicolás Boullosa on January 29, 2026

Blame interest rates. Blame investors. Easier than admitting America stopped building enough homes, never modernized construction, and quietly relies on …