West Stockbridge, MA

The owners of this residence wished to create a second home in the mountains of western Massachusetts where they could vacation with their two grown children. The rural environment and the use of the house as a vacation "cottage" had suggested employing simple geometric profiles for its expression. The form and arrangement of spaces within the home take advantage of sunlight and views of the surrounding Berkshires and achieve a logical circulation flow with an appropriate separation of public and private spaces.

The house is sided in red cedar shingles arranged with two wide bands alternating with a narrow one creating a broader overall shingle pattern in scale with the size of the house. The sloping roof, typical for climatic conditions in the Northeast, significantly impacts the sculptural form of the house. The stepped roof forms help mitigate the overall size of the house by articulating smaller scaled pieces. Simultaneously, the roof shape helps reinforce the clarity of the floor plan by expressing the volume and organization of interior spaces, and through the manipulation of eave height and overhang, conveys a pleasing form and a sense of protective shelter.

The tower, rising vertically from the center of the house, acts as a marker identifying the location of the main entrance. A private, quiet room for the owners is set high above the ground in the tower to take maximum advantage of the panoramic views. The tower also helps ventilate the home, cooling the house in the summer by venting warmer air out and allowing cooler air to be drawn in below. A screened porch and terrace are positioned on the right side of the home to take advantage of the southern orientation and to connect to the activities of the kitchen. A deck leads from the living area to the terrace.