Project Description
Builder’s Choice and Custom Home Awards Finalist
This project is a response to a client’s desire to build a family weekend house on a densely wooded site with stunning views overlooking a pond and the Berkshire Hills beyond.
The house is conceived and organized as a folded volumetric “sheet” enclosures that wraps and folds into itself to form and define the major interior spaces, and tie the house with the landscape.
The primary interior space is used for living, dining and a two story tall kitchen space. A screen porch extends off the dining area to look out over the pond and surrounding woods. The second floor spaces serve as a master bedroom suite, which includes private deck areas off the master bedroom and bathroom, and four children’s bedrooms with shared playroom, sauna, wine cellar and media room with storage and mechanical spaces tucked into the back of the structure. Access to a large terrace is provided off the ground floor playroom, which acts as an outdoor room with planned access to a future dock for boating, swimming and family gatherings. The house has also been designed for the addition of a future elevator.
The house is designed to be economical both in construction and maintenance akin to the classic modern Case Study Houses of the last century. Green features include recycled metal siding, a closed loop geothermal heating and cooling system, and solar collectors to supplement the grid system. As much of the site as possible has been left undisturbed and restored to natural growth and for preservation of the surrounding wetlands.