Writer's Studio | Mt. Desert Island | Maine | New England |

The Writer wanted his working space to take advantage of the beauty of the site and views while respecting the fragile landscape of Somes Sound on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. The studio was built with minimal impact on the shoreland and vegetation. With the bark-like texture of the red cedar shingles and the transparent connection to the ground, the architecture becomes a part of the Maine woods. The cantilevered daybed looks into an Eagle’s nest on nearby Bar Island.....more

Bisharat Residence | Chebeague Island | Maine | New England | Carol A Wilson Architect

From the entry hall, Halfway Rock Light marks a due southerly course in Casco Bay with Crow Island in the foreground. The Bisharats returned to a Maine island after years of living in Cairo and the Middle East with a new appreciation of trees, water and the natural beauty of their land. They asked for an “unassuming house that would lie close to the land, settled among its trees, seaside ledges and underground springs.” The long lean house accommodates an active life while constantly acknowledging the landscape thorough a transparent wall. The vertical south facing glass is carefully protected in the summertime by a deep overhang yet by mid-winter, the low angle of sunlight touches the base of the north wall of the Living Room. Year round the house responds to sun and wind, the house opens and closes to the weather.....more

Weir House | West Bath | Maine | New England | Carol A Wilson Architect

The site is four acres of land on Mill Cove where the New Meadows River meets Winnegance Bay. The Owners are New Englanders who lived in the south for thirty-five years. He is a tree geneticist who chose the land for the red pines, straight tall stately trees similar to the loblolly pines of the south. She is an artist, a weaver and a cook in need of a studio for her loom and a kitchen for her talents. The site demanded windows on the north face to take advantage of the views of the water, contrary to the requirement of any house in Maine for vertical south facing glass to provide light and solar warmth. These conflicting desires were settled by facing the tall southern glass toward future gardens and by framing Mill Cove with a band of narrow horizontal windows. The color was the artist’s choice, a “cardinal in the woods” as she calls it.....more

Kent House | New England, USA | Gray Organschi Architecture

This house for two university professors and their teenage children reflects their desire for spatial informality and material rusticity. Family life is centered on the heart of the house, a large wood-lined open-plan room for cooking, eating and living that embraces the forest surrounding the building. A balcony overlook provides one work space, while another writer’s nook is tucked under the catwalk that edges the tall room. Guests are afforded privacy in their own wing, with its own terrace. A screened porch flows from the house out to the decking that weaves into existing boulders. Second floor bedrooms are small, simple and, nestled into the sheltering boughs of mature trees, give an impression of being in a tree house.
The property is a typical contemporary Southern New England phenomenon: a rural, heavily wooded subdivision, strewn with ledge and laced with wetlands - a site that would have been avoided historically as a place in which to build. It is the kind of place that is lovely in its natural state and therefore heavily restricted as a building lot. The general lay of the land pitches to the north; potential views and access to a nearby lake lie to the west. The demands and restrictions of the site shaped the house. The building's circulation path weaves through trees, around fern blanketed bogs, finally hewing as interior space to the topographic contour line of a significant piece of ledge. The surfaces of the large interior common space open, shift, and distort to optimize daylight, natural ventilation and views......more