sam mcguire, iv | portfolio

WEEKEND RETREAT

PERSONAL / JUST FOR FUN

Design: Location:

April 2011 Somewhere in the Woods

Frank Lloyd Wright built Taliesen, not at the crown of the hill, but on the "little brow;" Likewise, this design honors the landscape by submitting to it. The retreat is organized as a series of individual pavilions along a spine: a concrete retaining wall which follows the hosting topography. Guests arrive along a secluded, wooded trail, leaving the machinations of urban life behind. Soon the path turns by way of rolling hills and an entry court is seen. The full extent of the retreat is not understood, and yet the landscape whispers the answer. Below, a large sylvan valley presents itself as the backdrop for the weekend's relaxation.

The first pavilion is the Living Pavilion and contains a main corridor (with storage), a restroom, a laundry room, kitchen, living room and office. As with all the pavilions, a double-height concrete core mediates between the corridor spine and main functional areas. Not only a buffer to traffic and utility, these concrete anchors serve as ventilation monitors, pulling air from low-lying exterior openings to rooftop windows. The Living Pavilion's main space is composed of a lofty kitchen nook and living / dining area embraced by transparency to nature.

The exterior courtyard is a recapitulation of the interior design. Diptych fireplaces center the communal life of both spaces, blurring the division between inside and out. The Sleeping Pavilions introduce more solid massings within the typography to respond to the private functions they serve. The Pavilions are identical and are designed to be built at the same time as the Living Pavilion, or separately over time, as required (or as funds become available). These guest structures contain a full bath, closet area, bedroom with work table and separate personal living room and patio. The circulation spine continues through each of these pavilions, but as exterior covered porticos.

The trail continues, but what it may show next is only now seen through the foggy lens of things to come and the imagination.

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