New Hope House

The site for the house sits atop a hill in a rolling agrarian landscape on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Once an active farm, much of the land has been placed into a conservation easement that limits the development of the property to a small area tucked in the corner of a forest with sweeping views east, south, and west.

The vastness of the site is both its strength and liability. The design of the home harnesses the incredible views and solar opportunities that will warm the house in winter and illuminate the spaces within. The design responds to the scale of the site by creating an intimate interior courtyard for gathering and repose. The form of the house locates the two-story sleeping spaces along the north to allow light and air to flow into the courtyard throughout the day.

The building will be clad in masonry on the ground floor to lock into the landscape and create a more durable interface with the land. The upper story will be a lighter, warmer wood cladding that enables walls to open and close in response to levels of privacy or solar orientation.

A series of openings in the roof draw light into key spaces lighting the path into the home: a breezeway marks entry to courtyard, a courtyard formally mimics these openings at the scale of the house, a generous staircase for accessing the bedrooms, and a clerestory is perched above the dining and cooking areas to draw air and light.

New Hope, PA

Completion in 2025

 

The Building

The approach to the house, situated on a former farm, crosses a rain garden that serves as the primary storm-water retention and control system. The building is designed as a low horizontal structure of long masonry that grounds it in the land clad in thermally modified wood battens and a weathered zinc panel clad fascia.

The entry court is tucked behind a low mount of soil taken from the site grading, between a barn and guest room and the main house. A breezeway greets the visitor and leads up a series of steps to the courtyard and larder door.

Passing through the breezeway, a courtyard smooths the transition from the vastness of the site to the interior living spaces. This intimate interior landscape is light-filled and mimics the curved form of a smaller opening within the breezeway. Subtle shifts in the plane of the brick, use of screens and patterned protrusions to add shadow and character help to break down the scale of the house in the courtyard. Large full height window openings are focused at key vistas through the house.

The building reads from the outside like a village of independent structures: a barn, a studio above a garage, a living volume capped by a clerestory, and a bedroom wing along the north side.

The barn, anchoring the northwest corner of the site, looks out toward the main house’s green roof, screen porch, and photovoltaic roof. Special care has been taken to consolidate building infrastructure within “service chimneys” and an integrated clerestory yard where the heat pump condensers are located.

 

The Interiors

The main house is arranged as two more solid volumes connected by a generous glass living space where the kitchen, living room, dining room, and main entry are located. A vast wood ceiling pitches up to allow indirect northern light into the space. Large triple-glazed windows provide abundant views and light into the landscape. Precise energy modeling dictated the size of the windows as well as the position of exterior shading devices in pursuit of better energy performance and an expected Passive House certification in 2025.

The kitchen is open, affording views into the courtyard as well as toward the wildflower rich fields that surround the house. A tall free-standing casework wall achieves a nominal amount of separation and acts as a storage unit for daily plates and bowls in the low slung kitchen. The brick tile floor, which also adorns the fireplace, is a common detail among the historic farm houses in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Along the "Sleeping Wing” of the house, a corridor is cleaved in two by a pair of windows: a glass door leading back into the courtyard and another framing a long view into the meadow interrupted by a rock garden of locally found schist. A detail found throughout the project of a wood ceiling detail running inside and out caps the space.

Bedrooms are design with abundant light and access to air. Window sills are grown to facilitate storage and object display and fields of color will enliven the spaces.

 

The Barn

The barn exhibits a material palette that contrasts with that of the main house. It features a facade of weathered corrugated zinc metal panels, complemented by dark gray wood details that serve to harmonize the various window configurations and structural elements. The lower level of the barn is designated for storing equipment and planting tools essential for maintaining the meadows and forested areas. In contrast, the upper level houses a painting studio and a guest bedroom for family use.

Openings in the barn feature trim made of blackened, thermally modified wood, enhancing durability and aesthetics. The arrangement of doors, panels, vents, and windows is designed around these prominent dark openings, creating a cohesive and simplified facade against the backdrop of the corrugated metal exterior.

The interior of the apartment is a simple open space with room for a bed and living / painting. The stair to the apartment is lit from above by large, east-facing windows. Each facade of the barn enjoys a window that can draw light into this central living space either directly or indirectly.

The building is nestled in a corner of a tree line and small grove of trees. The property is within a conservation easement intended to maintain the qualities of a rural landscape. As such, the buildable zone was limited and the design maximizes daylight exposure, view corridors, and wind movement (and shelter).

The living spaces of the main house are situated between two more solid volumes that house bedrooms, utility spaces, mechanical rooms, and a study. The barn and guest bedroom is situated a comfortable distance away from the house.