Project Description
In the rolling hills outside of Pittsburgh the dome-shaped site for this house with distant views in all directions immediately made me think of Palladio’s Villa Rotunda, the wonderful house with identical porticos on all four sides. On the airplane returning from first visit to the site I sketched plans and elevations of the Villa Rotunda adapted to the program of needs and desires as Richard Wyatt had explained. To my surprise and delight the program for this 20th century American family of four fit the schematic diagram of that 16th century home Palladio designed in Italy, only the dimensions had to change.
Although we began with an Italian prototype, the Wyatts were distinctly anglophile and we were all surprised that the resulting design was neither Italian nor English but altogether American in appearance. I was actually surprised to see how Jeffersonian it had become.