Idaho Residence

With rooms that are sixteen feet wide with occasional bay window-like extensions, the building is long and narrow to capture views in all directions and to be able to live mostly on the ground. There are deep overhanging porches wherever there are larger areas of glass. The major rooms of the house, living room and dining room, are taller barn-like volumes. The building is elevated 28″ on a rough gray/black slate stone base laid up in long random horizontal lengths with walls above clad in horizontal cedar siding. The cedar shingle roof, cedar posts and roof overhangs are all finished in a light gray weathering stain, which resembles the lighter gray tones of weathered cedar and fir. The underside of the sloped porch roofs, invisible from beyond the building, are tinted with a minimal wipe of clear white stain to match the interior ceilings. Lead coated copper, which weathers in a short time to a chalky dull gray similar to the stain color, is used to clad vulnerable trim, to transition at inside and outside corners as well as roof edges and gutters, smaller windows under minimal overhangs and extensions above the roof, such as chimneys and flues. Window frames that are protected by deep porch roofs are hardwood wiped with a transparent black stain. Interior floors and porches are a smooth cut of the same gray/black slate in 16″ squares. The landscape is intended to extend the ground to enhance the connection of the rooms to the exterior and the views beyond. The exception to this the great square north green which is to be a sort of hard lawn suitable for grandchildren to plan on and which is intentionally synthetic as a way of distinguishing it from the more “natural” landscape.