When the landscape is the main event.

A recent Sotheby’s International Realty feature looks at retreats in Patagonia, northern Norway and Tanzania through a shared idea: architecture taking its cues from the surrounding landscape. They are hospitality destinations, rather than homes presented for sale.

For our property-minded readers, the appeal is the design question. What does a building borrow from its setting? What does it leave alone? A remarkable view needs somewhere thoughtful to experience it.

Our Elsewhere desk will explore that relationship across coastal places, mountain settings and unusual escapes. The ambition is to understand a place, rather than reduce it to a location pin and an impressive photograph.

Follow the original feature for the named retreats, credited photography and reported opening information. Check the operator directly before making travel plans. Our illustration is a mood-setting image, not a photograph of any of those destinations.