The house is conceived as a layered, volumetric foreground that forms a cross-landscape against distant mountains. Located in the hilly terrain of the Appalachian Mountains, the site is long and narrow, with a striking slope that extends down to a lake. The two retaining walls are cut diagonally across the entire plot, forming two earthen courtyards carved out of the steep slope. A set of eight volumes, each loosely accommodating a component of the domestic project, follows the reserved backbone of the lower courts, striping the lake and the mountains farther afield. 
The main floor of the house is embedded in the hillside and looks out onto the lake - through the glass windows above into the southern light filter. The sunken everyday space is surrounded by earth on three sides, allowing the thermal mass to replace a significant portion of the heating and cooling load that is usually required. Strategically operational, natural airflow windows and heat pump mechanical systems with high-performance glazing, insulation, appliances and LED lighting allow customers to halve their energy consumption compared to where they previously lived. 
Designed as a permanent home for a retired couple, close to the family, the space is expanded for intimate couples while also providing occasional gatherings and larger celebrations. All the daily programs have a ** courtyard on the ground floor, conceived as an outdoor room that divides the main program into two wings. To the east of the courtyard is a social area and to the west is a private sleeping and bathing suite – day and night. 
A hall that serves as a mechanical and structural spine connects private and public spaces along the rear retaining wall. Larger, communal areas radiate outwards from the interior of the courtyard and gradually ** into the surrounding area for more intimate surroundings, providing semi-private time in the open living area. A carved cantilevered staircase extends towards the entrance and the guest rooms above, forming a continuous three-dimensional space topped by a skylight.
Upstairs, the house resembles a bunch of small pavilions on a hillside. Each pavilion is shaped to depict the landscape of the exterior landscape and amplify the changing hues of the natural light inside. The form of the roof sends water to the internal gutters, which end with large cones at the joints between each volume.
The dark charred cypress cladding reinforces the pavilion's clustering, as opaque volumes are set on the surrounding trees, while the pale yellow zinc roof resonates with the gray-green lake. At thresholds and entry points, concave and convex buckling is lined with brushed, amber cypress trees that are carved out of the rolls. As the sun moves from day to night in the house, its appearance changes from a series of textured objects to the flat outline of a distant landscape. 