bohlin cywinski jackson, wilkes-barre, pa. This calm, primal dwelling was Bohlin Cywinski Jackson’s response to a remarkable landscape, a forest and field overlooking a preserve for migratory eagles and hawks. Peter Bohlin, FAIA, positioned the house on a hill looking across the valley to the verdant rise of Hog Mountain. The light, wood-framed living spaces face out into this view, but they also turn inward to a central limestone-walled courtyard. “We thought of the stone courtyard almost as some place that might have pre-existed and to give a kind of clarity to the plan,” Bohlin says. “In the house, you’re well aware of the counterpoint of the square stone court, as well as the surrounding landscape.”
BCJ carefully manipulated the entry sequence, which begins with a drive through a field and dense forest. Visitors enter the house at the stone court and move through to the entry, which is centered on two massive limestone chimneys on axis with the view. “You tend not to see that view until you arrive inside the house, because you’re driving away from it coming in,” Bohlin explains. Complex in its simplicity, and vice versa, the judges were impressed with the design’s “conceptual clarity and elegant detailing,” and pronounced it “memorable.”
principal in charge / project architect: Peter Bohlin, FAIA, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
general contractor: Curtis J. Bailey, Curtis J. Bailey Inc., New Ringgold, Pa
interior designer: Stephen Shadley, Stephen Shadley Designs, New York City
project size: 12,000 square feet
site size: 160 acres
construction cost: Withheld
photographer: Michael Thomas