house on Pine Ridge

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Info: Project Details

A young family of four sought a vacation house that would not overwhelm their neighborhood of mostly modest capes and ranches, but that would celebrate their individual character and heighten their sense of happy getaways. We designed a house that is part cape, part storybook cottage at its street-facing public sides. It has a much more open garden side that faces outdoor living space and a southern exposure. Capturing distant water views from this vantage was critical to the client, and we provided a second floor deck and a third floor perch at the location on the site from which the view is broadest.

A modest budget and small site called for a very efficient form and plan. The program is accommodated in four levels, with a basement playroom and third floor loft space/office. A steep roof encloses the second and third levels. The roof makes vertical stacking of the space possible despite the one story front façade. The interior is architecturally simple, but flooded with light and color.

Bulging shingle brackets, an over-sized chimney cap, an oval window in a dormer that has a tiny incidental window on its side, and a very steep roof, are elements that add a storybook character to the otherwise simple cape form. This is another of our small houses with big scale.