Four Open, Airy Residences Located Around the World

Rural, alpine, and beach houses from Chile to Canada are at one with their remote surroundings.

Firm: MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects

Site: Upper Kingsburg, Canada

Recap: In an agrarian Nova Scotia landscape, a trio of gabled structures echoing local vernacular buildings are made modern through their Corten cladding, sleek fenestration, and minimalist detailing. Two of the volumes—the living pod and the sleeping quarters—are anchored by a plinth of granite, the same stone that comprises the lounge’s mammoth fireplace with five-ton live-edge mantle.

Firm: WMR Arquitectos

Site: Puertecillo, Chile

Recap: Built entirely of local pine, this easy-breezy coastal abode for a couple and their two children, located three hours southwest of Santiago, embraces oceanside living via the firm’s signature move:
terraces shaded by peekaboo canopies arrayed in intricate geometric grids.

Firm: GEZA Gri E Zucchi Architettura

Site: Tarvisio, Italy

Recap: Alpine architecture tropes receive a makeover in this house consisting of intersecting barnlike buildings. Like their predecessors, the structures
are skinned in wood—here in the form of a contemporary brise-soleil with larch fins, ideal for solar control and energy saving. A moody painted-oak kitchen completes the exercise.

Firm: Cristián Izquierdo

Site: Matanzas, Chile

Recap: Chilean cherry treated with oil containing a touch of white pigment forms this three-bedroom vacation house overlooking a local windsurfing hot spot. Views of the Pacific Ocean are best captured from the circular roof terrace, which is punctuated by a grid of 174 tiny skylights that bathe the
interior below in a uniform, saturated wash of daylight.

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