C Residence

A clearing in the woods is a home nestled in nature. A classically-inspired brick house, built in the 1980s, sits in the center of a large lawn, surrounded by dense woods and rolling hills. The design goal was to create a space that integrates the existing architecture, constructed landscape, and nature into a functional setting that offers areas for a young, social family to both entertain guests and find sanctuary.

Architect and landscape architect created the outdoor dining pavilion, new pool, terrace, and garden. The pavilion is situated along a perpendicular axis, extending south the length of the pool and across a lawn to a circular seating and firepit area overlooking a stream at the edge of the plateau. To the north, a formal garden path extends to a bench beneath an apple tree espaliered against a new garden wall. A series of garden rooms are created: secret garden to dining pavilion, to sunken pool, to fire pit beyond. Visitors enter the privacy of the new recreation area from the motor court through an arched opening in the secret garden wall.

The arrangement and resolution of these cross-axes, and details of the architecture and landscape architecture, reinforce the classically-inspired theme of the existing house and lawns, mediating their relationship to the more wild and untamed woodland surroundings.