A House In Situ

Abstract

The project is located in the Teton Valley of Idaho, sited on the eastern slope of the Big Hole Mountains oriented toward the western face of the Teton Mountain Range. The program is a vacation house for a young family of four to be used throughout the year. Themes covered in the project include issues of topography, site conditions, and landscape; the harnessing of a powerful context and views; water management specific to the site; architectural expressive form and scale; circulation; and materiality.

The site and its conditions, including slope, vegetation, sun orientation, wind direction, drainage patterns, and views, were the driving forces behind most of the design decisions made for the project. Circulation on and off the site, how one moves throughout the house, location of the program elements, placement and size of windows to capture views, and material selection were all inextricably tied to the physical nature of the site and its environment.

The project is documented with diagrams, line drawings, perspective renderings and model photographs to illustrate the thesis.