Tall and thin, the Haas Valley Farm Residence designed by Searl Lamaster Howe Architects perches on its site which is centered in the Driftless Area, a small pocket of the Midwest so named because the glaciers skipped over the region, leaving a surprising landscape of rolling hills and deep valleys bisected by the Mississippi River. The weekend getaway?s long and linear exterior stretches across a meadow offering views down to Grant River on one side and up to a limestone crested ridge on the other. Photography by Tony Soluri.

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The house?s form is simple yet jogs and intertwines to identify the spaces inside ? the stair slice buffers the sleeping and bathing side form the social side of the house, containing a double story great room whose low roof shoots out to shelter the screened porch. The kitchen is nestled under an upstairs bedroom off the living/dining area, creating a dramatic change in scale between the spaces. The foyer is also sheltered by a low roof which extends beyond the primary eave, bringing the ceiling lower over the entry bench across from the stair for a more intimate arrival. Jogging forward from the rest of the house to provide a more generous but still modest volume, the primary suite breaks from the south façade, while the main hall and guest suite inhabits the main volume of the house. A narrower roof tops the upper level, which slides into the great room volume creating the kitchen and bedroom overlap. All spaces offe...