The residing and dining rooms of this house overlooking a river valley in Connecticut, USA, are contained in a timber-clad box raised up by concrete buttresses .
Bridge Property was designed by local firm Joeb Moore & Partners for a couple who needed a countryside retreat they can escape to from their property on Prolonged Island.
They settled on a website in a meadow in Litchfield County over the Housatonic River Valley and invited the architects to build a proposal to make the most of its rural setting.
Influenced by the cascades of the nearby Kent Falls Nationwide Park and the traditional wooden bridges that traverse them, Joeb Moore & Partners conceived the a house as a bridging form that extends out from the slope.
“The bridge kind is a device that makes it possible for the natural landscape and ground features to flow straight beneath the house, unimpeded,” architect Joeb Moore told Dezeen.
“The residence bridges above the natural topography, alternatively of ploughing into it, permitting occupants to get pleasure from a direct connection with the natural flows and lifestyle of the surrounding geography,” Moore mentioned.
Photograph by Michael Biondo
The suspended box housing the residing spaces is supported by a pair of concrete buttresses that pierce it vertically, culminating in chimneys for the twin hearths contained inside them.
“These enormous concrete fortifications emerge from the ground and are considered of as a natural extension of the stone that is indigenous to the region,” explained Moore.
Connected story: Gian Salis’ Home on a Slope steps down a hillside in the Rhine Valley
“Aesthetically, the buttresses elevate the residence and support to make the treehouse-like area we were seeking in the primary entertainment and circulation spaces,” he stated.
More walls support to prop up the rest of the upper storey, which was constructed with a light-weight timber frame.
Red cedar cladding offers a contrast to the raw concrete and is applied vertically to echo the trunks of the surrounding woodland.
A quick bridge crosses the gap among the ridge on a single side of the site and the house’s upper storey prospects to the residing and dining location at the centre of the building’s program.
Photograph by Frank Oudeman
This area is glazed on the two sides to optimise daylight and views. 1 side faces the hillside and the other looks out across the sloping meadow, with doors at both finish opening onto a extended balcony.
Photograph by Michael Biondo
“The bridge spaces act as an optical device or viewing chamber, exactly where close to and far vistas are captured and focused for constant viewing,” said Moore.
Light wells next to the buttresses provide views straight through the property and integrate skylights to illuminate the staircases that descend to bedroom suites at either finish of the reduced level.
A north-dealing with clerestory window runs along the edge of the ceiling in the living space, supplying added daylight and views of the treetops.
Louvres stretching across 1 facade provide shading from direct sunlight, as does the positioning of various volumes to create overhangs sheltering the spaces below.
The master bedroom is housed in a section of the upper floor that tasks out towards the valley. A similarly extended wing at the other end reaches in the opposite direction towards the ridge and contains the garage.
A modest bathroom up coming to the kitchen features a vivid red ceiling in the shape of a truncated pyramid that culminates in a skylight.
A deck located beneath the bridging upper storey accommodates an outside lounge location dealing with the fire and a wall onto which a retractable projector beams images.
Photography is by David Sundberg/Esto
Venture credits:
Principal task designer: Joeb Moore
Task architect: Thalassa Curtis
Staff architect: Jason Walls
Builder: Corporate Construction Inc.
Structural engineer: Edward Stanley Engineers
Landscape architect: Don Walsh
Interior layout: Ann Nicholas
Surveyor: John M Farnsworth & Associates
Civil engineer: McChord Engineering Associates, Inc.
Geotechnical advisor: Clarence Welti Associates Inc.
Heating, ventilation and Air-conditioning: Encon
Site strategy 
Basement floor plan 
Ground floor plan 
Area 1 
Part two Dezeen
