A new book, Homes for Our Time: Sustainable Living by Philip Jodidio, showcases 63 single-family housing projects from around the world that illustrate how architects are reimagining homes for the climate era. Jodidio argues that sustainability, once a niche concern, now shapes almost every aspect of housing design, from materials and energy use to land consumption and resilience, with private houses acting as laboratories for architectural innovation because individual clients often grant designers more creative freedom than institutional projects allow.

The featured homes demonstrate a range of strategies, including reclaimed materials, passive cooling and regional building techniques. Examples include Ken Nishiguchi's Earth House in Japan, built from reclaimed quarry stone; Andrés Jaque's Rambla Climate-House in Spain, which uses rainwater harvesting and grey-water recycling; bamboo-and-straw homes on Ecuador's Portete Island built for earthquake-displaced residents; a wildfire-resistant house in California's Napa valley; and Poplar Grove, an infill house in Washington DC built from engineered bamboo panels that cut heat transfer by 90%. Many designs also draw on older, low-tech principles such as orientation, shading, natural ventilation and thermal mass to reduce reliance on energy-intensive heating and cooling systems.