Charlotte, Vermont

The property is draped with a mature cedar and fern woodland, punctuated with rock outcroppings and includes dramatic views of Lake Champlain, the Cove Islands and the Adirondack Mountains. These three principal features guided the design of the property. The owners desired to expand the main house, retain a seasonal guest cottage, add an artist studio and renovate the boathouse. The challenge was to integrate the proposed building and site program requirements as a series of simple maneuvers within the confines of a natural cedar woodland plant community while preserving the integrity of its lakefront context. Working closely with the architect, we created a series of simple exterior spaces interwoven with continuous native slate and Panton stone establishing a dialogue between the architecture and the site. The planting and hardscape were chosen to compliment, but not compete with the natural beauty of the site. The desire was to create simple pure forms whose character would be simultaneously subtle and bold, vast and intimate, organic and structured.

Architect: John Anderson Studio, Inc.