GRAPHĒ

You Might Recognize the Site of This $15M Big Bear Estate From the ’80s Classic "WarGames"

The storied setting has been reimagined as a sophisticated contemporary retreat while preserving its privacy and sense of place.

39224 Waterview Drive in Big Bear Lake, California, is currently listed at $15,000,000 by Neyshia Go at Sotheby’s International Realty - Beverly Hills Brokerage.

Sited on over 1.5 acres of premier lakefront frontage, the Waterview Estate on Big Bear Lake, designed by Framework Design + Build with exterior architecture by award-winning firm The Ranch Mine, presents one of the most striking examples of bespoke architecture in the region.

Gracing Boulder Bay and Metcalf Bay, the estate offers more than 10,000 square feet, including a seven-bedroom residence spanning over 7,000 square feet. Two wings connect through a dramatic central atrium and courtyard, where floor-to-ceiling glass frames a suspended fireplace and creates an uninterrupted sightline through the residence to the lake.

Sustainably sourced timber, natural stone, and brick tile connect the architecture to its mountain setting. European white oak envelops the kitchen, featuring Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, two Ceppo Rosso marble islands, and an EarthStone wood-fired pizza oven detailed in hand painted aged brass.

Dual stairways lead to an entertainment level with a full wet bar, wine and beverage refrigeration, aged brass island, and great room anchored by panoramic lake views and a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace—one of five throughout the home. Expansive patios, a covered pavilion, and central courtyard extend the living spaces outdoors with integrated audio, exterior dining, a gas fire pit, and custom cedar soaking tub.

Two primary suites offer private terraces, fireplaces and spa like baths finished in Grey Beauty marble and Taj Mahal quartzite with Studio Ore fixtures.

Additional guest suites feature forest, courtyard, and lake views, including a floating lakefront balcony and fieldstone wood-burning fireplace. A cedar sauna with WiFi enabled HUUM heater, recreation room, and flexible home office complete the home’s wellness and entertainment spaces.

Exceptionally private and gated grounds feature mature aspens, native cedars and pines, sculptural landscaping, more than 40 hand-selected monumental boulders, and a native stone gabion fence. Over 80 landscape lights, zoned irrigation, and exterior speakers enhance the outdoor experience.

The property carries a remarkable history. With roots in Big Bear’s mining era, it later became a celebrated filming location, most notably serving as Dr. Stephen Falken’s iconic lakeside home in the three-time Academy Award nominated 1983 film WarGames.

Advanced infrastructure includes a fully heated driveway, WiFi 7 Ubiquiti UniFi network, smartphone controlled digital energy management, 4K AI powered surveillance, integrated gate control, and more than 12 zones of multi-room audio. Two garages include a climate controlled "toy garage" designed for a boat, jet skis, an Airstream, recreational vehicles, or automotive collection.

Listing Details

Bedrooms: 7

Baths: 7 full, 2 partial

Year Built: 2026

Square feet: 7,167

Plot Size: 1.63 acres

Courtesy of Sotheby's International Realty - Beverly Hills Brokerage

See the full story on Dwell.com: You Might Recognize the Site of This $15M Big Bear Estate From the ’80s Classic "WarGames"

Here’s a Rare Chance to Own a Home by Pritzker Prize–Winner Glenn Murcutt

The 840-square-foot pod currently sits on a vineyard in New South Wales, Australia, but the land isn’t part of the deal—the next owner will have to relocate it.

Designed by Australian architect Glenn Murcutt and built in 2022, the 78-square-meter pod is one of only two examples of the design ever built. It currently sits on <a href="https://www.rosby.com.au/">Rosby Vineyard</a> outside Mudgee, New South Wales.

Location: Strikes Lane, Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia

Price: Price Upon Request

Year Built: 2022

Architect: Glenn Murcutt

Builder: Penney Constructions

Footprint: 840 square feet (2 beds, 1 bath)

From the Agent: "A small piece of Australian architectural history faces an uncertain future—and, for one buyer, it’s an extraordinary opportunity.

Glenn Murcutt’s buildings are known for their lightness, restraint, and sensitivity to climate and place. Corrugated metal, timber, glass, shade, and ventilation are transformed through careful proportion and detail into buildings that sit gently upon the landscape. It is an approach closely associated with the expression ‘Touch the earth lightly.’

This diminutive structure distills that philosophy into an unusually compact form. Only two examples of this Glenn Murcutt design were ever built.

But the building cannot remain indefinitely where it stands. It can disappear. Or it can move. Its custodians are searching for someone who understands what it is and who can give it another life. An effort is underway to save it, relocate it, and find a setting for it.

Its modest scale opens possibilities that would be impossible with one of Murcutt’s larger houses. It could sit on a rural property, beside a vineyard, overlooking bushland, or within a sculpture garden, and could potentially be used as a private retreat, guest pavilion, or creative studio. There is something particularly appropriate about the idea of a Murcutt building being carefully lifted from one landscape and allowed to settle lightly upon another.

Murcutt is Australia’s only recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. His buildings are studied by architects around the world, yet opportunities to acquire them are exceptionally uncommon. An opportunity involving a small, potentially relocatable Murcutt structure—one of only two built—is more unusual still.

The hope is to find an individual, architect, collector, developer, or organization who recognizes its significance and is prepared to become its next custodian. The building already has a history. Now it needs someone to write its next chapter."

See the full story on Dwell.com: Here’s a Rare Chance to Own a Home by Pritzker Prize–Winner Glenn Murcutt
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I Built a Sauna in My Tiny New York City Front Yard in Just One Weekend

I’d dreamed of an at-home schvitz for years, and after meticulous research and a couple of days of assembly, that dream has finally come true.

According to my Instagram Explore page, I am certainly not the first (or last) person to get hooked on sauna over the past few years. Where I live in New York City, we’ve gone from having to seek a schvitz at our local Equinox or YMCA to now having a multitude of spaces solely dedicated to sweating to enjoy. (Or freezing and then sweating again—whatever your preference!) But pricing tends to restrict the average New Yorker to only occasional visits (like you might treat massages, facials and the like), when sauna is supposed to be a weekly—if not daily—experience. For so many lucky people across the globe, the bathhouse (or hammam or banya or jjimjilbang or sento) is more of an amenity as opposed to an occasion. Perhaps we’ll get there someday! I’d like to think bathing culture is something our water-surrounded city will embrace wholeheartedly. But until then, I decided I needed to take sauna access into my own hands.

If you’re a city dweller like me, you have quite a few options to get your regular sweat on. There’s the "sauna bag" strategy—a few of my friends swear by Higher Dose’s $700 set up—a schvitz you could achieve while supine and bingeing your favorite Netflix show. There are tents that pop up with machines that pump steam while you sit inside on a folding chair. There’s also this hideous portable sauna where you become the sauna, with your head and arms poking through so you can scroll while you cook? (Show this thing to a Finnish person for a guaranteed scream.) All somewhat acceptable in various ways, but providing nowhere near the exhilaration (and ultimately, relaxation) you get from a more traditional setup of hot rocks in a wood box. And, sorry, I’ll never be an infrared sauna girl: there’s just something that feels wrong about being heated up "from the inside out", no matter the health benefits they claim! I believe you, but I think it’s important to break a real sweat.

Small apartment renters might be out of luck, but even if you only have a bit of space, you might be surprised at the number of compact sauna structures on the market. In 2021, when I bought a 400-square-foot Rockaway Beach bungalow and renovated it, I never imagined that the small space in front could hold anything more than some comfy Adirondacks and a small garden. But after a few years, I saved up to build a teak deck across the approximately 90 square feet of space, which created a ton more usable space in front of the small house. I’d always had the fantasy of building my very own sauna, but could never figure out where exactly it would go. Was there now finally a place?

Behold the original design by my incredible architect, <a href="https://www.andrewdaley.co/Background">Andrew Daley</a>. Notice the outline of the front — Behold the original design by my incredible architect, Andrew Daley. Notice the outline of the front "yard."
Courtesy of the author

From the side of the deck to the left edge of the centered window, I found out that I had four feet nine inches (along with the depth of the deck, which is six feet nine inches) to work with. And despite the appeal of a traditional Finnish savusauna, for safety reasons, I didn’t think my neighbors (whose houses are quite close to mine) would appreciate a wood-burning stove so close to their properties. (Although if you live in the middle of nowhere or have a huge yard space to work with, a wood-burning steam gets you the best schvitz there is.) Luckily, an electric stove with sauna rocks can achieve a gorgeous steam (that’s what the water-filled buckets are for) and, as I was told by a customer service agent I spoke with, could be easily routed directly into my nearby electrical box, requiring a 240V capacity. (Luckily I’d already upgraded my electrical. More on that in a bit.) Through many rounds of measuring and internet scouring, I learned that the most affordable electric saunas were not usually the smaller ones—the oft-recommended "Costco Barrel Sauna" is a great deal at $3,500 (which includes the Harvia heater), but would cover my front window with its rounded shape. They also have a slightly more expensive version that’s less rounded, which would be a great option if I was willing to cover just some of the front window. Which I wasn’t.

Because so many outdoor sauna makers are often committed to the barrel (and provide space to fit 2-plus people), it wasn’t exactly easy to find a more rectangular shape that would accommodate my smallish footprint. That was my main requirement. Otherwise, I was hoping to find something that would stand up to the wet, salty environment of the Rockaways, be relatively easy to keep up, and fit in with the existing look and feel of my house and our community. Here are a few I did find that fit the bill at varying price points:

Finlandia Outdoor Sauna Room (48" x 48", $8,655, with heater) — built in red cedar, mahogany with a thoughtful "Starline roof" for easy water run-off
The Sweat Pod Traditional (53"W x 61.25"D x 77.375"H, $6,045, with heater) — built in red cedar with clean, rounded edges
Plunge’s The Sauna Mini (94"H × 52"W × 57"D, $10,990 with heater) — built in cedar with an oversized glass door and unique slanted roof
REVIVE 2-Person Traditional (77.5"H × 47.4"W × 59"D, $6,499, with heater) — built in hemlock with backrests, LED lighting and WiFi capability
Redwood Outdoors Duo (62 ¾"D x 50 ¾"W x 82 ¾"H, $5,899, with heater) — built in hemlock and propped up on solid sleepers with a compact rounded design
Cielo Sky View Heritage (rounded diameter 57.5", $3,900, without heater) — built in pine with a fully rounded exterior and bold sunroof
SunRay Saunas 2 (50"W x 50"D x 98"H, $4,990, with heater) — built in hemlock with a weather-proofed metal roof and internal Bluetooth speakers

They were all chic in their own ways: ranging from fully rounded with expansive sunroof to a more stall-type shape—with varying features like glass doors, WiFi-connected stoves and the Plunge’s "Sauna Phone Mount", which is a genius (or unnecessary, depending on your perspective) exterior perch to "keep your phone cool while still being able to view the timer or monitor incoming calls." A few different types of wood were represented, but all promised to be "heat-treated" aka wood that has been heated to high temperatures (356°F to 428°F) without chemicals. (Which extends the sauna’s longevity by removing natural resins, preventing rot and lowering thermal conductivity aka keeping the bench comfortable to sit on.) All claimed to be water and weather-proofed, but each had a different way to protect the sauna: from pitched roofs, to shingles to metal slopes.

As for the sauna itself, I went with Redwood Outdoors Duo. Why? While I received mine gratis as a tester, for me the Duo’s price point is ideal: smack in the middle between the famously affordable Costco Barrel (which wouldn’t fit on my deck anyway) and some of the higher end saunas, loaded with (often unnecessary) bells and whistles. I also noticed that Redwood Outdoors had the most detail when it came to actually building the sauna: PDFs I could access before I even pressed purchase (very useful for electrician planning!), as well as a slew of YouTube instructional videos. They also very clearly advertised a phone number that would lead you to a hotline with actual human beings available to help with any snags along the way. Plus, the almost four foot three width booth-style sauna was practically tailor-made for my space, snugly sitting between the window’s edge and the end of the deck.

Its compact minimalist design fits well into any outdoor space, perfect for transforming urban backyards or rooftop gardens into a wellness oasis.

Because some saunas come with a heater while others require you to buy one separately, I also had the option of a few different heaters. Some included the Harvia KIP ($954 to $1,172), a petite, wall-mounted stove, complete with sauna stones perfect for producing a bit of steam when sprayed with some water. There was also the more pricey HUUM Drop ($1,334 to $1,751) and Harvia Spirit ($1,715 to $1,777)—both more stylishly rounded and with space for more rocks (therefore more access to steam.) With such a small footprint, and a budget in mind, the more compact Harvia line (as well as comparable Amerec or Finlandia) will do. And make sure you check the wattage; that’s useful information for your electrician. They’ll usually run anywhere from 3 kilowatts to 8 kilowatts. For a small sauna, you don’t need huge heating power—3 to 5 kilowatts will do! I ended up with a 6 kilowatt Harvia Spirit, which heats my sauna up to 170 degrees in about 25 minutes (fantastic), but is almost a little too big for the space. The sauna also doesn’t come with a safety rail, which I ended up buying myself and was very much needed. But before adding that extra accoutrement, first I had to put the sauna itself together.

At 1000 pounds, unpacking the box the sauna pieces are inside of is a challenge in its own right.
Courtesy of the author

Pre-assembly

If you’ve ever wondered how a ~1,000 pound package arrives, well, it’s in one huge crate and a slightly-smaller (but still quite heavy) box. Shipping for the Duo is around $600 (to the New York area, specifically), but other more expensive saunas will ship for free. Anything that arrives by freight will also come with the ability to schedule a specific delivery time frame, so don’t worry about making sure you’re around to receive. Perhaps you should ask a friend if you can borrow a spare dolly (or buy one in advance.). Especially if your sauna is heading to a location off a main road, be warned that freight truck drivers will not deliver your new ~1,000 pound sauna directly to your door. (Unless, let’s say, you have a generous cash tip on hand and ask very, very nicely. Something I will not confirm or deny that I did.)

A reminder to check what’s in the box before you begin to put things together.
Courtesy of the author

See the full story on Dwell.com: I Built a Sauna in My Tiny New York City Front Yard in Just One Weekend
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A Massive New Roof Turns a ’70s Chalet in Canada Into a Forest Palace

It traces a grandiose extension down a hillside, made all the more dramatic by a climbing net that reaches the ceiling.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Belfountain, Canada

Architect: UUfie / @uufie_architects

Footprint: 4,628 square feet

Builder: North Arrow Limited

Structural Engineer: Moses Structural Engineers

MEP: Hayward Consulting & Design

Photographer: Ema Peter / @emaphotographi

From the Architect: "Set within the steep, wooded terrain of the Niagara Escarpment in Belfountain, Ontario, Belfountain House unfolds as a continuous architectural promenade shaped by topography, movement, and family life.

"Located on 3.21 acres of densely forested escarpment, the project transforms a 1970s chalet into a 4,628-square-foot, four-level residence for a philosopher, an artist, their children, and a dog. The design preserves the northern portion of the existing structure while extending the southern half along the original footprint, minimizing disturbance to the site and maintaining a close relationship with the landscape. Rather than relying on expansion, the project is shaped through subtraction, reorganization, and sectional clarity. The steep terrain, mature tree canopy, and desire for openness presented both spatial and structural challenges, requiring the architecture to respond carefully to the changing conditions of the slope.

"A single elongated roof stretches across the hillside, gathering the life of the house beneath one continuous span. Conceived as a sectional response to the terrain, the architecture organizes space through shifts in level, compression, and light rather than rigid enclosure, creating a fluid interior landscape attuned to the rhythms of daily life.

"Movement through the house recalls the cadence of hiking through the surrounding forest—sequential, episodic, and constantly shifting in atmosphere. The approach is gradual: visitors pass the artist’s studio and pool before the house quietly emerges within the trees. Entry occurs through a compressed timber-lined mudroom that gives way to a soaring living room anchored by a fireplace. Exposed rafters extend outward toward the canopy, intersected by diagonal red steel beams that stabilize the span while introducing a bold visual counterpoint. Suspended above the main living space, a large net functions simultaneously as barrier, hammock, and inhabitable surface for play, gathering, and rest.

"A continuous plane of wood and glazing reinforces the relationship between interior and landscape. Seasonal light, weather, and ambient sound become active elements within the home, while reclaimed elm, local stone, stucco, and radiant concrete floors ground the project materially within its setting. As the sequence descends into the slope, the architecture becomes increasingly embedded within the terrain. Contrasting stair elements—one carved into the hillside and the other suspended lightly above it—frame distinct encounters with the landscape. Lower levels contain spaces for recreation and retreat, including a sauna, gym, pool connection, and a concealed guest suite wrapped in angled polycarbonate that emits a soft lantern-like glow at night.

"Designed to support the evolving rhythms of family life, the house allows children to move freely between indoors and outdoors while maintaining visual connections across the site. Durable, tactile materials were selected to weather gracefully and absorb the marks of everyday life, allowing the house to be fully inhabited rather than merely preserved."

See the full story on Dwell.com: A Massive New Roof Turns a ’70s Chalet in Canada Into a Forest Palace
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Catch This $875K Butterfly-Roofed Arizona Cabin Before It Flies Off the Market

Architect Robert Hershberger designed his personal residence with a rainwater-harvesting roof, a central greenhouse, and tall windows that frame forest views.

The butterfly roof features solar panels that provide supplementary energy.

Location: 204 North Forest Park Drive, Payson, Arizona

Price: $875,000

Footprint: 2,881 square feet (4 beds, 3 baths)

Lot Size: 0.64 acres

Year Built: 2004

Architect: Robert Hershberger

From the Listing: "Here’s a rare opportunity to own a modern cabin in the woods in Payson, designed and built by former Dean of Architecture at the University of Arizona and award-winning architect Robert Hershberger as his personal residence. The architect describes the home as a ‘flower in the forest,’ with two rooflines sloping upward to the north and south like petals to capture sunlight and direct rainwater into lower-level cisterns (the roots), while the central greenhouse (the stamen) supports plant life and light within the home. Each room on the main level features high windows, framing a unique view of the forest, while skylights and interior glass bring natural light deeper into the home. A central greenhouse atrium serves as a transition from the south-facing covered porch into the home. The great room combines living, dining, and kitchen spaces with custom birch cabinetry and aspen tongue-and-groove ceilings. The lower level includes two guest bedrooms, a full bath, and a very large recreation room. Additional lower-level spaces include storage rooms, mechanical rooms, and two dedicated cistern rooms. Outdoor spaces include a south-facing covered porch designed for year-round use, a walled garden for protection from wildlife, and terraces and pathways that follow the natural contours of the land."

The home is set on a private lot surrounded by mature ponderosa pines. — The butterfly roof is topped with solar photovoltaic panels.
Photo by Divinity Creative

See the full story on Dwell.com: Catch This $875K Butterfly-Roofed Arizona Cabin Before It Flies Off the Market
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A $10.5M Cottage Hits the Market in NYC—and Everything Else You Need to Know About This Week

New "green corridor" projects connect Philadelphia, a LACMA exhibit explores the strange promises of futuristic living, and more.

In New York City, a West Village penthouse topped with a rooftop ‘cottage’ and a sprawling garden is on the market for $10.5 million. Perched above a former warehouse, it offers a slice of country life with skyline views which, if you know NYC, is not a combination that is easy to come by. (The New York Times)
Praxis, a crypto-backed tech company, recently announced Uruguay as its destination for a post-AI city, promising new economic and governance systems, and, not least of all, "great DJs." The plan is nothing short of ambitious, but the details—such as the building timeline, or the deal itself—are a little murky. (The New York Times)
Philadelphia is stitching together greener, more walkable streets with projects ranging from a $150 million makeover of the Avenue of the Arts to a pedestrian bridge that will allow safer access to the Delaware River waterfront. An 11.5-acre park planned atop I-95 is also expected to open by 2030. (The Architect’s Newspaper)
NorthPoint Development, a private real estate company based in Missouri, is offering every household in Pennsylvania’s Hazle Township $10,000 if its first planned data center gets built. Here’s why many residents still aren’t ready to welcome a center despite the cash incentive. (The Wall Street Journal)

Installation photo from Home of the Future, 1925 - 1985: Designing Domestic Utopias, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. — Installation photo from *Home of the Future, 1925 - 1985: Designing Domestic Utopias*, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Photo by Museum Associates/LACMA, Jonathan J. Urban

Forward-looking home concepts that include push-button kitchens and houses orbiting earth are on display in LACMA’s Home of the Future, which explores six decades of Americans imagining what domestic life would look like. Here’s what the exhibition’s more than 260 objects and images reveal about dreams of effortless housework, self-sufficient living, and the home of tomorrow. (Designboom)

Top photo by Evan Joseph

A Trip to the 2026 Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse, Where Maximalist Traditional Reigned Supreme

Decadent custom sofa beds and plastic wrapped Schumacher throw pillows are among the luxe yet comfortable interior details on view in the home through November.

You never know what you’re going to find in a show house, and, having never attended the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse, I had even less to go off of in terms of expectations. It is relatively new compared to some of its contemporaries (while the Kips Bay Decorator Show House is over 50 years old, the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse began in just 2017), but regardless of which house you’re entering, there’s always a bit of a delicious tension between the facade of the building (usually historic), the original interiors (a total grab bag, depending on how long it’s been on the market and how many hands its moved through) and what each room ends up as (same). With each designer given essentially carte blanche on their particular room, you can end up walking through dozens of different styles in a single home, resulting in a real feeling of aesthetic whiplash.

But I found this year’s Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse, which opens to the public Friday, October 2 until November 1, consistent, all things considered. Call it updated traditional: the chosen designers brought back the energy that had been stripped by the previous owner from this landmarked 1852 Greek Revival mansion (on a corner lot, no less, and on the market for just shy of $15 million). Here are a few of my favorites from the tour.

Photo by Tori Sikkema, courtesy Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse

Entering the dining room, you’d never notice there were so many different ceiling heights. That’s because Sugarhouse Design added wallpaper, arches and beams to conceal what had previously been done to try to hide some ductwork. Further into the kitchen, I particularly loved the kitchen’s vintage light sconces, which designer Jess Nahon said had to be purchased because the seller wouldn’t lend them—hire Sugarhouse, and they could be yours for a future project!

The wall color is from<a href="https://www.jhwallpaints.com/products/lime-wall-paint"> JH Lime Paints</a> in Lime Butter. The tiles are <a href="https://ceramikaiszklo.riwal.pl/en/start-english/">Riwal Manufaktura</a>. The countertop is <a href="https://www.artistictile.com/products/slmelange?srsltid=AU7gw4XAnU_96G8Mow9HQuZX0ZErApCNAvvfncZrDHCPIXAxxfl_LeLb">Artistic Tile’s Melange Marble</a>. — The wall color is from JH Lime Paints in Lime Butter. The tiles, handcrafted by Riwal Manufaktura, were inspired by the dining room wallpaper. The countertop is Artistic Tile’s Melange Marble.
Photo by Tori Sikkema, courtesy Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse

Inspired by British design, multiple pieces were sourced from the UK for Studio Olivine’s bedroom.
Photo by Tori Sikkema, courtesy Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse

See the full story on Dwell.com: A Trip to the 2026 Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse, Where Maximalist Traditional Reigned Supreme
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