Outdoor Rooms
Vienna, VA
Program: Gathering / Reading / Dining
Area: 1800 sf
Status: Completed 1990
These outdoor rooms define the edge between the built world, the house, and the natural world, the forest, creating two distinct environments. The upper deck, being of the built world, employs a rigid three foot grid, expressed by the cedar parquet flooring and a vertical railing. By contrast, a flowing curve defines the lower deck, with horizontal railings hugging the earth. A screened dining pavilion links these two worlds, seemingly floating above the yard six feet below and providing an unobstructed view to parkland beyond, an eye framing the distant landscape. Light and shadow form an integral component of the design. Linear, structured shadows touch the upper deck, as soft, natural shadows from the trees shade the lower deck. These outdoor rooms provide a quiet place in which to contemplate the connection between the built world and the world of nature.