This is No Small Plans, a series where we highlight some of Dwell’s best floor plans for real, practical inspiration.

It’s never easy to pinpoint the origins of an enduring architectural type. With storied examples being found as far apart as Wales and Japan, the A-Frame is no exception; Far easier is it to trace its modern-day rediscovery. In 1934, Austrian-American architect Rudolph Schindler built what is considered to be the first A-frame in the U.S., but it wasn’t until after the post-WWII economic boom that it was cemented in the American imagination with the woodsy vacation home. It fell out of fashion in the early ‘80s only to experience a slow revival after the 2008 recession as an economic, minimalist housing alternative—a trend accelerated by the cabin craze during the pandemic. We’ve collected the floor plans from some of our favorite renovations and riffs on the “all roof, no wall” home to get a better look at the A-frame’s latest comeback.

Hilltop A-Frame by Jacqueline Blum

In 1955, a high school woodworking teacher enlisted his friends and family to build an A-frame in California’s San Bernardino Mountains, something Jacqueline Blum and her husband found out from a letter sent to them after they bought the home almost 70 years later. “We didn't want to completely create a blank slate,” says Blum. “We want it to feel like it has this rich history.” True to their intent, the couple did not alter the structure, walls, or plumbing. Most of their budget went to either sprucing up what was already there—like the wide plank wood floors—or working around it when updating the home’s wiring.

The House on Pine Mountain by Alta Projects

Aria Massoudifar and Sam Salehyan’s biggest challenge in renovating their 1973 A-frame was making the home feel both contemporary—a style Massoudifar says is rare in Yosemite—and storied. “We wanted to create the feeling of generational warmth in the home—that this place had been one family’s summer escape for decades,” says Tito Pedraza of Alta Projects, the L.A.-based studio entrusted with the renovation. The group struck the balance by pairing finds from local mills, estate sales, Goodwill, and Etsy with new furniture and finishes.

Pine Hill A-Frame by Studio Bunkley

When Kenard and Jennifer Bunkley bought their A-frame in March 2021, they thought the home would only need a few cosmetic upgrades. But during the five years the home remained vacant, raccoons had settled in and the insulation had deteriorated past salvaging. The pandemic made finding the right contractor to come up to Pine Hill, NY almost impossible, so the couple and their three children mostly undertook the gut renovation themselves. They only outsourced or enlisted professional help for things like plumbing and electrical.

La Colorada by PPAA

When architect Pablo Pérez Palacios and his wife, Sofia, bought their small A-frame in Mexico’s Valle de Bravo, it was the perfect size for just the two of them. “We’d bring a cooler of beer and hang out all weekend,” the architect recalls of those first years. “By the time we had our first child, we needed more space and amenities.” Pablo opted for a mixed, minimally invasive approach of building a new rectangular structure into the hillside and extending the original A-frame over it. “We only had to take out one tree during this project,” he says, “and we reused the wood for a rail on the terrace.”

The Love Triangle by Shackup

Without much design or building experience between them, Paula Washington and Peter Mogl had planned on erecting three different rentals on their property in Nova Scotia: a cabin, an A-frame, and a tower. After finishing the cabin, the simplicity of an A-frame made it seem like the natural next step. Reality came as a surprise: “We went into the A-frame thinking it would be a simple build, and it was anything but that,” Paula recalls. “It was a very challenging, complex geometric puzzle to figure out.” Lengthening the home even slightly could snowball into an extra six feet in its height, something the couple wanted to avoid. Their solution was to add a knee wall and sink part of the site rather than raise the roof.

Casa Fuki III & Estudio

Maximiliano Noguera and Alejandra Marambio, the principals of Max-A Arquitectura in Chile, built a retreat and a detached design studio—both A-frames—in under nine months. The secret behind their efficiency was to design around the standard dimensions of wood boards in Chile. “If you know what’s out there, you can start working with those measurements, but you have to be flexible and adapt your living requirements,” says Alejandra. “At the same time, you have to work within the constraints—you don’t get one more meter.”

The Away Frame by Robert James Higgins

Shelley Brown and Michael Waldron had intended to build a container home on their property in New York’s Catskills, but doing so would have meant cutting down some of the towering trees they loved about the site. They pivoted to the idea of an A-frame. It evoked the same simplicity, seemed more in tune with the forested surroundings, and posed less risk of disturbing the site. Together, the couple drafted the design for what would become a “contrast between untouched woods and a black triangle rising like a great monolith,” Michael says. “I think it’s very true to what we wanted to do.”

Aladino House by Iván Bravo Architects

Outside a nature preserve near Puerto Varas, Chile, Architect Iván Bravo was hired to design a welcome center for the park’s visitors and a home for ranger Aladino and his wife. Bravo decided to do both in one building. “This way, costs could be managed more efficiently, which means that the project can have better results, both in its habitability and in its expression as an architectural work,” explains Bravo’s design team. What turned out to be an A-frame was actually inspired by traditional shake barns in the region: the structure’s roof was extended down to rest on a platform raised over a stream that runs across the site.

Little Owl A-Frame by Holly Hollenbeck/HSH Interiors

To her surprise, Holly Snow Hollenbeck had to outbid 24 other people for a 1962 A-frame in Donner Lake, California. “Who knew that many people would want an A-frame that needed absolutely everything done to fix it!” The gut renovation would take over a year to complete. Linoleum and shag carpet flooring was swapped out for Baltic birch plywood planks punctuated with stretches of terrazzo tiles. “I immediately told my real estate agent that my vision was a ‘Nordic Bento Box,’” Snow Hollenbeck says. “Nordic for bleached wood, clean lines, and simplicity. And bento box because smartly designed and highly-efficient storage would be key to making the footprint functional.”

Minne Stuge by Taiga Design + Build

It didn’t take long for Melissa and Kevin Coleman to see through the bright-green shag carpet, cracking linoleum, and rotting wood envelope of a 1970s A-frame kit house on the north shore of Lake Superior. They put in an offer on the nine-hour drive back to their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “It was love at first sight,” Melissa says. “The inside is wrapped in cedar, and the smell was intoxicating.” The couple hired Taiga Design + Build to renovate the home. The one-year project modernized the appliances, fixed the plumbing, renovated the cabinetry and finishes, replaced the wood siding, and swapped out the decaying shingles with synthetic shakes.

Top photo by Rafael Gamo.

Related reading:

No Small Plans: 10 Floor Plans That Transform Garages into Livable Spaces

No Small Plans: 10 Townhome Floor Plans Outfitted for the 21st Century

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