Elliptical House by Mihai Popa

Artist Mihai "Nova" Popa built the Elliptical House near Bridgehampton, Long Island, out of wood from a demolished Brooklyn church. It is based on an ecological idea: It's 40-by-40 in the middle and 20-by-40 at the base, "which means we are giving back half of the house to the planet."

According to Carol Polsky in Newsday, Popa also designs models of circular modular cities to float on the ocean, and to launch into space should humans face an exodus from a dying planet in an ecological apocalypse he believes is a possibility.

Polsky continues: There's a rough-hewn, sculptural quality to the entire space, much like Popa's handmade wooden furniture and the elaborately carved and constructed doorways, stairways and kitchen cabinetry.

"Everything is artistic and because of that, you are content in your environment," says [partner] Wolf. "Technology is not allowed to overwhelm. It's there, but we don't let it steamroll us or dictate to us."