A private family retreat in the middle of three-thousand acres of a working ranch and surrounding forest lands, this project includes a lodge and two smaller two- and three-bedroom houses, with associated site development.

A wooded knoll was selected for the building site. A dam was constructed to create a 45-acre lake in the adjoining alluvial plain, turning the house site into a peninsula overlooking water to the north, east, and south.

Stone foundations anchor the buildings to the ground, and walk-out basements keep the building profiles low, allowing the natural landscape to subordinate the architecture. Cedar siding and copper colored roofs blend into the backdrop of the trees.

Lake water is pumped thirty feet up to a fountainhead at the grassy recreational lawn that occupies the space between the buildings. From there, it cascades down a stone-lined streambed, masking the noise from the highway two miles away.

Asphalt and mulch paved paths meander through the nearby woods and tie to the roadways which lead to the horse stable and the woods beyond.

This development will be completed with a summerhouse and a double porte cochere, which will further define the separation of the grassy lawn from the woods surrounding the houses.