The design is built around a complex geometry when the front façade is centered on the property, while the rear façade is centered on the opening in the trees to the view. Axial lines that define three centers allow for a re-centering that gives order to the plan elevations and massing. The order is subtle, however, so it does not create overbearing formality.

Our client sought a low-maintenance playhouse where they could spend care-free weekends and summer vacations with their four children. The over-scaled and, in some cases, flattened details of both the exterior and the interior are unexpected and intended to evoke a child’s relationship to built forms and spaces; to create an air of enchantment for both children and adults. To this end, the fantastical is evoked, for example, in the stair and adjacent columns where twisted baroque columns and bridges crossing soaring space (a-la Piranesi, the great 18th century engraver of Roman ruins and impossibly grand and complex imaginary spaces) are playfully recalled with carpenter-appropriate materials and details.

Other eclectic details occur in the living room where the fireplace inglenook, TV cabinet and window seat area vaguely Moorish-exotic; whimsical and fun rather than formal and stuffy, a reflection of the owner’s character and wishes for their house.