Former airplane interior designer, Steve Sauer, worked hard to transform a tiny closet space in Seattle into a functional apartment, which is also known as a “pico dwelling.” The apartment measures only 182 square feet, yet consists of two beds, a full kitchen with a dishwasher, a bathroom with a shower, and a soaking tub set into the floor just inside the front door.

Sauer succeeded in fitting 8 separate and functional spaces into the tiny space, including a café area, which is stacked atop a video lounge that is equipped with a 37-inch TV. In a lofted area on one of the walls there is a bedroom that sits atop a walk-in closet that can also double as a home office.

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The Santa Monica-based award-winning green design studio Minarc partnered up with Habitat for Humanity, and a local non-profit firm Restore Neighborhoods LA to design and build affordable, net-zero energy prefabricated homes in the low-income areas of South Los Angeles. Together they built 3 homes, which were all built on vacant lots in the poorest neighborhood of South Los Angeles. The houses all feature Minarc’s innovative, interlocking panel system, which is called mnmMOD. The homes are also equipped with roof top mounted solar panels.

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A single family home in Glencoe, Illinois recently received the LEED Platinum for Home certification. This 4,800-square-foot house is the first new home in the North Shore area of Chicago to receive this rating. Despite its many green and sustainable features, the residence looks like a traditional house from the outside. The home also boasts of a HERS rating of 32.

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