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Foldable furniture helps save space in the small house.

The small bathroom is fully equipped with a shower, sink, and composting toilet.

Architect David Dowell and his wife, Kathy, took a decade to determine what they wanted to do with the historic 12-acre property they bought in eastern Kansas. The couple eventually opted to renovate and expand the modest limestone cottage that was already there. The resulting 1,250-square-foot getaway sits on the rolling plain amid elm, silver maple, and eastern red cedar trees. “You don’t have to choose between old and new,” says David. “It’s a false construct in our brain to even think that way.”

Set amid wheat fields in the Marche region of Italy, Carlo Zingaro and Eugenia Morgano’s long, gable-roofed house embraces its surroundings. Architect Simone Subissati calls it “Border Crossing House” because of its openness and narrow shape. “The building imposes itself yet can be crossed in several places, so the two sides of the hill are separated, but by an easily traversible ‘border,’” he explains. The cladding is a combination of galvanized iron panels and self-cleaning plaster.

Sammie turned the downstairs rooms of the house into a treatment area for yoga, massages, and relaxation. The bathtub is from Wayfair and the faucet is by Waterworks.

House in No Man’s Land floor plan

In the bathroom, white subway tile was inspired by a 1905 ceramic shelf Elena found at a nearby antique shop and put in the shower as well as a desire to keep the overall design simple, says Cobb.

A closer look at the renovated kitchen, which features a large picture window and a beloved chandelier that once hung in the couple's first Berlin apartment.

Elena Stein in the kitchen of the weekend cottage she shares with her husband, Roland, their three teenage children, and the family dachshund, Lucy, in the quiet hamlet of Seeland, three hours north of Berlin.

“Sustainability is often used as a big banner. On this traditional house, we wanted the aesthetic to be subtle but the performance to be loud,” explains architect Christine Lara Hoff. The team

Hoff says she and Cobb saved about 40 to 50 percent of the house’s existing elements—notably the original brick facade, which now contrasts with new solar roof tiles from Solteq.

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New windows in the house prioritize desert views.

Several doors provide an entrance through the private outdoors space.

North elevation of TreeGazer

The breezeway between the main cabin and the summer porch acts as a third living space in the summer and on mild spring and fall days, linking the separate structures. “The walls slanting over the breezeway create an implied arch between the cabin and the summer porch, lending a sense of intimacy to the heart of the house,” says Diane.

Floor Plan of Beaver Creek Cabin by Outside Architecture