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A long, winding driveway leads to the two-story farmhouse, set on a spacious 1.2-acre lot.

Burch Cottage floor plan

The blackened timber–clad cabin that arba designed in Longueil, Normandy, France, is marked by large glass doors, layered with wood slats that slide open and connect the home to its lush landscape.

Architects Joan Soranno and John Cook of HGA developed five site-specific cabins that tread lightly on the land at Marlboro College in rural Vermont. These deceptively simple structures update the regional vernacular. Every year, Marlboro College hosts the Marlboro Music Festival in which classical musicians join together to hone their craft. These cabins help support the musicians that live, work, and rehearse together.

Sited on a lake near Bracebridge, Ontario, this small-footprint family cottage was designed by Toronto firm superkül to integrate with its natural surroundings and minimize its environmental impact. The clients, a married couple, had mixed feelings about going completely modern with their cabin's aesthetic, so the architects created a sculptural wood form to bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary. Photo by Shai Gil.

The sleeping cabin perches on a rocky rise near the Floating House; Meredith imagines these two as a start of a string of buildings that will wrap around the island.

Cabin Nordmarka, 2006.

"We did our best to tuck the buildings into the site—the goal was to get up high on a perch. It was a matter of setting that elevation and working back down with the topography," says architectural designer Riley Pratt.

The couple wanted the cabin to mesh with its beautiful natural surroundings. "To us this meant small," says Kenny. "We wanted the design to put you right into the landscape, and by making it small we feel drawled by the night sky and mountains that surround us."

The living room is warmed by a Morsø 1440 cast-iron stove and features a pair of calfskin folding seats that are original to the house.

Solar panels provide power for the two cabins.

"We were interested in this idea of treading lightly on the site. Using a green roof is a logical extension of that. When you introduce a building that supplants a little piece of the forest floor, it's nice to replicate that on the roof as a return gesture to continue to create habitat for birds, animals, and plants, and to help manage the flow of storm water," explains McFarlane.

Even as the square footage of this cottage in Fayston, Vermont, shrank in response to budget constraints, architect Elizabeth Herrmann remained focused on making the space feel warm and functional for a family of four and their dog and cat. "I think the trick to making small spaces feel much larger is to design the experience of being there,

The cabin thoughtfully blends aesthetics from Japanese design and Scandinavian minimalism.