Occoquan River House
This new 3,400 square foot house is located on five acres of steeply sloping wooded terrain along the Occoquan River in Prince William County, Virginia. River views govern placement on the site and design. The house is placed at the far corner of the sites conservation easement, maximizing the adjacency to the river sixty feet below and obscuring views of a neighboring house. In order to best capture the views, the programmatic section of the house is inverted. Primary living spaces are placed on the top level. Two bedrooms and two offices are located below, within the privacy of carefully protected existing trees.
The house is conceived as a composition of distinct volumes designed in response to the texture, light and colors in the landscape. A rectangular volume, constructed with concrete block, imbeds the dwelling to the site while a trapezoidal volume, clad in corrugated metal panels, stretches along the wooded river view and reflects the landscape. A wood and glass structure links the volumes and cantilevers into the landscape. A rotated elliptical cylinder clad in corten steel anchors the composition, while taking on the color of the surrounding earth. Along with the hearth and an offset oculus, this element defines the primary living space. Each volume retains its identity while becoming part of the greater whole. This is most evident where the forms intersect on the second floor. The living, dining and kitchen spaces are open to each other but are defined by varying ceiling heights and respect the site-specific geometry. The arrangement of spaces and placement of glass allows shifting views of the site and exterior spaces.
The Occoquan River House is composed of simple forms rendered in sensory materials. Daily life is enriched by the changing experience of this environment, making one at home in the larger landscape of river, wood and sloping site. Fog rolls in off the river. Trees change color. The light of the oculus moves around the living room. The experience of home is unique to this site, situated in the essential qualities of place and time.
