For a lake residence on a diminutive lot in rural Iowa, we conceived of a house as a series of spatial frames that offer a focused and private experience on an otherwise densely populated shore. This second home sits in a resort area that appears as an oasis in the midst of the Midwestern “corn desert”. Not at all nostalgic for the cottages of years gone by, the owners nevertheless wanted a house that was “all about the lake” and the oak trees that bound the lake from the expanse of farmland beyond. In response to the narrow wedge-shaped lot with the lake at one end, we conceived of the house as a 3-dimensional set of “blinders” that obscure the neighbors and gradually open up to the lake beyond. Passing through the house one moves from areas of density to areas with a diaphanous quality – the house is a spatial gradient.