We’re diving into the bucolic beauty of some of North America’s best modern country homes.
North America plays host to homes designed in some of the most spectacular locations. These contemporary country homes explore their connection to the landscape, as though a part of the natural environment while reinterpreting the surrounding rural architecture. Most importantly, they are conscious of how they take up space, respond to the climate and respect the landscape they inhabit.
Take a tour through six of the best North American country homes by Feldman Architecture, Mclean Quinlan, Of Possible, Anacapa Architecture, Willson Design and Jessica Helgerson Interior Design, mwworks and Faulker Architects.
Sonoma Wine Country by Feldman Architecture
Feldman Architecture design buildings that sit gracefully on the earth. Their projects are bold and simple – and always a reaction to their surroundings. This approach led them to a 40-acre property in Healdsburg, California, known for its winemaking region, that had been devastated by wildfires. Here, the clients were passionate about revegetating the surrounding woodland and grassland and creating a home that would best appreciate this.
In their Sonoma Wine Country project, a standout feature is the glazed garage door windows that create an open-air experience in every space, right out to the rolling hills beyond. The project finds equilibrium between being a private, rural retreat with lots of room for the social clients to entertain family and friends.
Wyoming House by McLean Quinlan
The views from Wyoming House are nothing short of breathtaking. Starring in est Magazine issue #29 and designed by British studio McLean Quinlan, the house looks to snow-capped peaks and the vast valley of the Grand Teton National Park below.
The home’s design speaks to the privilege of taking in the rugged beauty that surrounds it. A modern reference to the traditional American settler’s homestead, McLean Quinlan designed an open plan, barn-like structure, with Douglas fir rafters and floors and Swiss-designed glazing. The outside vista forms focus in each space, holding true to the connection between the natural and built spaces.
Santa Barbara House by Anacapa Architecture, Willson Design and Jessica Helgerson Interior Design
The Santa Barbara House is tucked away into the rolling hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The upshot of Anacapa Architecture, Willson Design and Jessica Helgerson Interior Design’s collaboration, the guesthouse seeks to capture the quality of the setting with minimal impact on the land.
The client wanted to preserve and protect the natural environment – one of California’s last remaining undeveloped coastal areas. The guesthouse takes on a low profile with a green grass roof and sweeping vistas through sliding glass doors. A large L-shaped deck lets the interiors spill outside to appreciate the sloping wildlife reserve and cattle ranch below.
Exposed, board-formed concrete clads both the exterior and interior, together with rich black walnut used for the ceilings and joinery. Going gently and carefully may have meant this home took six years to complete, but it’s a true embodiment of the ‘slowly does it’ attitude to life.
Whidbey Island Farm Retreat by mwworks
Taking us to Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, design studio mwworks set out to preserve as many significant fir trees on the site as they could by designing a home that carefully wraps around them. Designed for a family who wanted a place to retreat to on their family farm, mwworks ensured the new build would also be respectful to the old agricultural buildings on site.
On the densely forested hill, the home weaves its way around the trees with full-height glass, taking in views of the quaint barn and livestock below. mwworks stuck to a hard-wearing palette inside that reflects the location’s agricultural history; timber, locally sourced stone and polished concrete. Composed of separate wings, the Whidbey Island retreat can be enjoyed by more than just immediate family – with the ability to accommodate up to 20 people.
Sheffield Residence by Of Possible
Sheffield Residence is a contemporary articulation of rural American architecture. Located near Sheffield, Massachusetts, architecture firm Of Possible were primarily inspired by the Farnsworth House by Ludwig van der Rohe. They devised a low-pitched gable roof structure made of ‘continuous vertical cedar plans with no intermittent seams’ to silver with age and blend softly with the New England landscape.
Glass openings and large outdoor terraces play into the client’s wish to be immersed in the landscape of their childhood – the leafy-green garden, apple orchard and surrounding wetland south of the home. Inside, the ever-changing landscape takes centre stage as locally sourced, and sustainable materials become a calming backdrop, sensitive to the location’s history and environment.
Miner Road by Faulkner Architects
The Californian landscape has always informed Faulker Architects’ residential projects, especially true for Miner Road, located on a steep site intermitted by native oak trees, designed for an environmentally oriented couple. The contemporary Cor-Ten steel structure responds to both the climate and the ecological significance of its site, with minimal impact on it.
Cor-Ten steel wraps the exterior; a durable, fire-proof and no-maintenance exterior that director Greg Faulkner says lies at the core of the connection between inside and out. The cathedral glass opening in the living and dining space, where you peer into the trees, is also a grand testament to this relationship. “Those big trees felt like refuge before we even built anything,” Greg says. “They’re a free material that became part of the house.”
