For this tranquil forest refuge, the architects worked from the inside out—configuring the house’s interiors according to views of nature, with the exterior form following suit.

British-born Freear joined the design-build program at Auburn University in 2000, and has made scalable, low-cost housing solutions for impoverished rural communities a primary focus.

The current director of Urban Planning at Columbia University’s GSAPP will assume the new role in July.