I have just begun the design of a new residence in the Blue Ridge mountains of western Virginia. The property, more than 5 acres, is spectacular — heavily wooded, with a change in elevation of nearly 100 ft from front to rear. As the property slopes away, the treetops fall down showing mountain and forest vistas and a stream in the valley below.
As a portion of the design procedure, we looked in classic American mountain houses built in the 19th century ahead. In the Adirondacks to the Blue Ridge Mountains and beyond, there’s a specific aesthetic for a home in a wooded and mountainous site. Large and simple gable roofs represent the shape of the hills while readily shedding snow and rain. Big, tree-like timbers, frequently used as discovered on the website, support these roofs. All of this rests on neighborhood stone shaped into foundations, plinths and chimneys. The metal plates and anchors linking these elements have a heft and scale to match the surroundings.
These homes located in the wild have given up the refined elegance, gentility and limitations of the city. They are raw, natural and massive. And it’s this massiveness, this scale, that is quite fascinating about these homes. Built at the land of giants where mountaintops touch the skies trees reach for the skies and lakes seem bottomless, these homes can hold their own.
Turnbull Griffin Haesloop
Like big tents, the big and simple gable roofs on these homes define a place of refuge and reflect the landscape of trees and mountains.
Gelotte Hommas Architecture
Stone chimney, stone plinths and stone base anchor this home to its website while the roofing, like a fantastic tent arrangement, is supported on tree-like poles.
Gelotte Hommas Architecture
These metal roofs are unquestionably tent-like, stretched tight like fabric on a simple pole-like structure, appearing to float over the land.
Gelotte Hommas Architecture
Large expanses of glass maintain the interiors light and bright while capturing the house’s greatest views.
Highland Group
With numerous outdoor spaces and perched at the edge of the water, this needs to be a fisherman’s dream house.
Ward-Young Architecture & Planning – Truckee, CA
In the realm of giants, this house appears like a fairy-tale cabin in the woods.
Ward-Young Architecture & Planning – Truckee, CA
Beautifully crafted of large and small timbers — with a porch to sit on while listening to owls hooting at night — this house could have been built from what was discovered on-site.
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