State College, PA (1994)
Designed for a rural setting along a winding road surrounded by horse and dairy farms, the program for this house includes a usual set of living-dining-sleeping and bathing facilities, but also a specialized studio/office and a weaving loft. It is these personalized supplemental rooms that, along with the eccentric site, give this house its unique character.
Like a Bank Barn the house embeds its service areas into a northern hillside so that its upper living levels may open directly toward the south. These spaces are organized along a private covered porch intersected by a breezeway. The breezeway forms the main entrance: to the studio/office on one side and to the living quarters on the other.
The house “stands” as a formal presence, its masonry base engaging the earth while its lighter wing-like upper portions gesture against the sky. Spatial projections, details and fenestration draw from and reflect the agrarian structures of Central Pennsylvania and the immediate surroundings.
John Lucas Architect
