This rural Virginia site, 21 acres of woods and fields at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, presented architect Robert Gurney with a problem he’d like to have more often. There were so many great siting options, he says, “it was a challenge figuring out where to put the house.” To find the best views, Gurney says, “we actually brought scaffolding out to the site and set it up in various locations.” After settling on a spot--a patch of high ground at the edge of a field--Gurney made that effort worthwhile, producing a weekend home that does full justice to its surroundings.
Stretching out along a bluestone-paved pool deck, the house rises in two separate towers--one two stories high, the other three--creating separate zones for the owners and their guests. Bridging the towers at ground level is a glass-walled great room that capitalizes on the site’s visual potential. “You can be on the swimming pool deck and actually look through the house and get views of the mountains,” Gurney says. A walk-out lower level holds utility spaces, an exercise room, and a home theater.
The building’s form is a collection of engagingly simple rectilinear forms, which Gurney further articulated with exterior treatments of stacked slate, clear-finish mahogany, and black fiber cement panels. The judges remarked approvingly on the “discipline” of the plan, but they were positively effusive about the artistry of the overall project. Said one judge, “It’s like you’re in a sculpture.”
On Site With 21 acres of land on which to spread out, this building didn’t need to go up more than one story, much less four. Its verticality serves two purposes: to create separate zones for the owners and their frequent overnight guests and to capture distant mountain views.
