Fox Johnston Architects designed this house in the Mosman neighborhood of Sydney, Australia.

With a view over national parkland and across the ocean to the horizon, this house is designed for easy living and to please the senses. Yet it is also practical – built with solid, durable, tactile materials. Bluestone, Anthra-Zinc, glass and wood are combined externally and internally in an environmentally responsive manner.

External walls and screens open and close, providing the rooms with privacy or shading. The narrow width and orientation of the building maximises cross ventilation and sunlight filtration throughout each space.

The building as a whole is designed to create private living spaces away from the street with a central focus on the outdoor living areas. It takes the form of a series of platforms, responding to the rhythm and topography of the site. The main living, sleeping and entertaining areas are contained in the long linear form to the west. An elongated pool bounds this form and transects the building through the entrance hall, forming a shallow pool in the entrance courtyard. The east wing encloses a living space that serves the barbecue and pool deck, with a separate bedroom and bathroom above.

If the idea of escape seems all the more enticing now that the rest of the world is caught in the back-to-school rush, here’s another amazing prefab remedy for your wanderlust. Escape to the beach, the mountains or the trees in San Francisco-based Kyu Che’s sustainable Lifepod. Loosely based on the traditional Mongolian ger (or ‘yurt’ as the Russian translation goes), the Lifepod is at once organic and high-tech. Built to be highly portable, the Lifepod is a fully functioning, off-the-grid mini capsule for modern nomadic living.

Originally conceived in 1997, Lifepods are constructed using the most advanced 21st century automotive, aeronautic, nautical and RV technologies. Inspired by roaming mammals, the futuristic prefabs are designed as ‘quadrupedal fuselages’ with footings that can adjust to the contours of their environs, rather than disfiguring the landscape to fit to the house. All the modular pieces fit into a 40 ft container and can be shipped anywhere around the world. Using state-of-the-art technology, you and your Lifepod can roam the world un-tethered and off-the-grid.

Should your inner nomad be perfectly content with a zen staycation, Kyu Che also offers a Lifepod capsule that can be fitted with minimalist screen or glass doors and used as a sculptural garden retreat, tea house, or sanctuary from the madness of daily life.