Mountainside House

A Chicago couple built their retirement home on a 3000-foot high elevation in Asheville, North Carolina, with spectacular vistas across a valley to mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The 5500-square-foot house on the 5-acre site was designed in a modern style but using warm natural materials and traditional post-and-beam construction typical of historic national park lodges. The goal was to capture the drama of the site while also providing a variety of cozy spaces for different moods, times of day, and seasons.

The house is a chevron in plan, with both wings parallel to the mountain contours. At the corner of the chevron, where the contours change direction, is a covered patio with a hot tub spa. The west wing contains living spaces and the east wing has the bedrooms. Deep overhangs on south facing exposures provide shade in summer but allow the sun inside during winter. The main balcony overhang is cantilevered and column-free to give unobstructed views from the great room.