Project Description
This project is a modest 2,000 square foot residence located in the North Carolina Mountains. The simple program includes four bedrooms, three baths and an open kitchen/dining/living area, organized on two levels, within a tightly defined geometry of squares and golden sections in both plan and section.
The design strategy for this project was to overlay a highly ordered and open structure on an unaltered natural setting, and, through contrast, to accentuate the intimate relationship between dwelling and site, between dwellers and nature.
Through efficient organization and spatial sequencing the architects were able to reduce the overall building footprint such that the entire structure could be placed on the only existing level portion of the site, thus eliminating rough grading and potential erosion. Two primary planes, a demising wall and a shed roof were deployed, in plan and section respectively, to organize the design, to clarify spatial and public/private hierarchy internally, to articulate massing and to establish the building’s relationship to the site.
Building upon the vernacular imagery suggested by the shed roof and simple massing, the exterior envelope was clad with dark-stained siding and trim. Interior finishes were limited to natural wood, two paint colors and an additional contrast color for the demising wall. In the visual and aural calm of a dwelling absent of TV, stereo or computers, expansive use of glass, operable windows and interior louvers allow dramatic mountain views and the faint rustle of mountain breezes to flow continuously, uninterrupted throughout.