PeterForbesFAIA
HOUSE ON mt desert ISLAND
Maine, USA
1989
Her passion for the beauty of the natural environment spoke to the owner of a house as open to the immediate and distant landscape. She also was afflicted with multiple chemical sensitivities and that condition demanded an open unrestricted space. Both combined to form a house without walls, with only glass between interior and exterior, tall enough to view the mountains, close to forest floor. Our solution was a grid of steel tubes into which were inserted platforms, individual “rooms” separated only by different levels, an open space that could have an air exchange of 100% per hour. It also provided unbroken experience of surrounding nature; snow floats 10 meters past the glass walls, sunlight and shadow, dusk and dawn inform her living. Hawks perch atop the house, foxes peek through the windows.
American Institute of Architects/ New England Honor Award
Boston Society of Architects Honor Award
Boston Society of Architects Sustainable Design Award
American Institute of Architects/Maine Honor Award
American Institute of Steel Construction Award of Excellence
Industrial Designers Society of America Award of Excellence; Silver Medal
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