A Recycled Retreat

Cinco Camp, Roger Black’s West Texas retreat, is made of five shipping containers on his 3,000-acre ranch. “I wanted something that blends into the landscape and could be installed and eventually removed with minimal disturbance to the environment,” he said.

Mr. Black, who was the art director at Rolling Stone in the 1970s, and at The New York Times and Newsweek in the 1980s, is now a publications consultant. He built this house, a nine-hour trip from his Manhattan apartment, last year. He stays connected to the outside world by satellite broadband. His few visitors include his nephew, a cowboy, whose image is reflected in the sliding glass door fitted to the front of the container.

The units, finished off site and set in place by cranes, retain their original exterior doors. When sealed, they keep out the elements, not to mention snakes.

The living room has a flat-screen television and midcentury furnishings bought in New York and San Francisco. The painting is by Carlos Montes de Oca.

“Out here, I get back to reality ... whatever reality is," Mr. Black said.

Photos: James H. Evans for The New York Times