Firm： Allied Works Architecture

Type： Cultural › Gallery Residential › Private House

YEAR： 2007

Photos： Jeremey Bitterman (6)

Allied Works was commissioned to design a residence, guesthouse and private gallery on 350 acres in Dutchess County, New York. Located on the eastern slopes of the Hudson River Valley, the site consists of rolling hills, open meadow and dense hardwood forest. Each of the three buildings responds to a particular landscape. The guest house was the first of these to be completed.

Balanced above a bend in small creek, the guest house is located in a mature deciduous forest of oak, hickory, and birch. The two-bedroom, 1,300 sf house is held within a continuous structural frame of eight-inch steel that weaves through the site, blurring the boundaries between forest and house. Enclosures and terraces are formed by panels of wood and glass that slip between, over, and through the frame as it meanders among the trees. The house is reached by a long path through the woods from the Main House meadow. Each room of the house looks to a different region of the site, emphasizing closeness and connection to the landscape.

The Guesthouse is a place of silence, reflection and intimacy. In summer, the house is animated by birdsong and immersed in dappled light. In winter, the house sits exposed in field of black tree trunks against a floor of white snow.