The Blueberry Ridge residence was designed for a couple that spend half their year in Italy, but wanted a pied a terre in Chapel Hill to serve as a gathering place for kids and grandkids to come visit easily.

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We just listened to the site when deciding what would fit.  The site faces due south toward spectacular far views of Chatham County, NC.  It's like a mountain site in many ways.  

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We were asked for simplicity and clean lines.  Every major room faces the view to the south, also benefitting from warm passive solar in the winter, and deep overhangs providing shade in the NC summers.

 

We used raw concrete on the foundation walls.  Above this the first floor floats in and out from the foundation line, culminating with the deep cantilevered screen porch.  With views spanning dozens of miles away during the winter when the leaves are down, it was clear that the house needed a long axis to allow for each room to have a far view.  There is a deeply cantilevered screen porch reaching out into the forest.  The cantilever means we can save the huge oak adjacent because there is no footing to disrupt the roots of that tree.

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The interiors were inspired by the simplicity of Shaker design, using only what was necessary.  

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Triple paned passive house suitable windows from Awilux help us achieve an energy efficient house.