On a rural hillside property encircled by fern-carpeted woods with breathtaking Green Mountain views, owners of the Elemental House envisioned a home enveloped by nature where they could relax with family and friends— a place uncomplicated, elegant, and beautiful, but rugged enough to withstand kids’ play and exploration.
Architecture, Construction & Design Awards 2020
Third Award | Private Residence (Large) (Built)
Project Name: Elemental House
Studio Name: Elizabeth Herrmann Architecture + Design
Design Team: Elizabeth Herrmann
Area: 5000 SF
Year: 2019
Location: Fayston, Vermont
Consultants:
Photography Credits: Lindsay Selin
Other Credits: Red House Building
An ambition to implement an architecture that thoughtfully incorporated energy efficiency and low-maintenance construction led to a reimagining of the vanishing Vermont farmhouse as a vernacular building for the modern world. The house design and landscaping would be low-maintenance and unfussy. Our approach was to employ elemental architectural forms amid a lightly edited landscape. Two gabled volumes clad in charred and stained, almost-black siding wedge into the slope while a third volume nestles uphill to form an L-shaped plan linked by a glassy entry node. We located the house at woods’ edge where the varied terrain, long views and dense woods could all be appreciated, and fully integrated into the design.
The house is both introverted and extraverted. It blends with the landscape to create a subdued, low-profiled entry and bedroom suite near the woods, but then boldly opens up on the downhill side to let in views and light at three levels.
Inspired by the variability of the land and forest, we used shifting geometry to give the house a dynamic, natural feel. There is also a bit of mystery: by composing spaces with offset geometries to give hints of what’s beyond, the house doesn’t present itself all at once but is discovered through a series of vignettes and glimpses which open up to framed views. Spaces are practical and functional while also composed to create rich visual interest and unique, dramatic perspectives from each room.
Taking cues from “random patterns” and movement in the landscape, the palette throughout is textural and tonal highlighting the natural beauty and irregular imperfections of wood, handmade tile, blackened steel, concrete, and stone. Offset steel stairs connecting three levels are the interior centerpiece whose rod balusters similarly play on the beauty of imperfection—the irregular rail spacing evokes serene, gentle movement.
A low-maintenance material pallet was selected for day-to-day convenience as well as durability and longevity. The incorporation of a sophisticated building envelope and energy efficient air sourced heat-pumps for heating and cooling yields a high-performance home designed to last generations.
