Land, and a barn in the way. Now a house that frames what they came for.
The clients wanted the house to take its cues from the site and frame the landscape in a contemporary way. They worried about cost, about snow and temperature swings, and about finding people willing to build that far out.
The drain field had to go somewhere without disturbing the land or compromising what made it worth buying.
The house sits at the edge of the property so the majority of the land stays untouched. The restraint is the design move. What they see is a view, not a site plan.
They never asked for the barn to matter. It became the anchor: the house and the barn together frame a patio, and the space between them becomes a designed outdoor room rather than leftover yard.
The conventional front, facing the road, is deliberately bare. The back opens entirely to the landscape.
And a skylight over the bed, so they can watch the stars from lying down under an exceptionally dark sky.
One over the primary bed, for the stars. One over the kitchen island, pouring light onto the surface everyone actually gathers around while cooking. One over the guest showers at the far end, making a spa out of a bathroom and separating visitors from the owners.
"The barn was already the best building on the site. The house had to earn its place beside it."
Luis Boza · On building next to what is already there
Have land and no idea what it can hold?
On most rural sites the best building is already standing. The question is what the new one owes it.
Read what the new building owes the old →Rather talk it through? Start with one question.
