The clients, art collectors from New York City, have been spending weekends in an old farmhouse in upstate New York for the past twenty-five years. They decided to sell the house and build a new one on an adjacent meadow that offers panoramic views of the rolling Berkshire foothills and distant Catskill mountains. They wanted a simple, energy efficient house that would take advantage of the site and could be easily adapted from its current use as a place for an active family with children to an easy-to-maintain, single-level house more suitable for older people.

The site is an open meadow exposed to abundant sun and breezes. It was cleared back in the days when the whole area was farmland, and is now surrounded on three sides by a new growth forest that ensures complete privacy. The grade slopes up gradually from the road below, first quite steeply, then less so, to a curving ridge that leads to an area near the top that is almost flat and is bisected by an old stone wall. This area was chosen as the site for the house.

The building is conceived as a simple industrial shed that evokes the numerous farm buildings of the area. An auxiliary wing is set perpendicular to the main volume to form an "L" configuration which, together with the forest boundary and the old stone wall, creates an intimate private garden at the rear of the house. The main facade faces south, taking full advantage of solar orientation and the spectacular views. The ground floor is set into the hilltop in such a way that it appears to be a natural extension of the landscape.

The plan is layered in two parallel zones. The rear bar is two stories high. Bedrooms, bathrooms and storage areas are on the ground level; the upper level contains additional bedrooms and a loft overlooking the living space. The front bar is a double- height open space subdivided into living and dining areas by a low volume that serves to provide scale and contains the kitchen. The building mass is "eroded" by an indentation in the corner off the kitchen that creates a covered outdoor dining area and allows the building to interlock with the ridge of the hill.

The volume of the house is clad in corrugated weathering steel, with a galvalume roof. In the front, a continuous strip of large sliding doors wraps around the main two-story space, erasing the visual boundary between indoors and outdoors and allowing the space to be completely open in warm weather. In the upper part of the facade, punched openings frame views of the ever-changing sky. In the rear bar, the composition of windows serves practical needs of the private spaces. The interior has an exposed radiant heated concrete slab with white sheetrock walls; the sloping underside of the roof is clad in unfinished cedar.

Clients: Ron & June Shelp.

Builder: Adam Flaum Custom Builder