Merkel Cooper Residence, by in situ studio

The Merkel Cooper Residence by in situ studio is designed first to conceal and then to reveal.

The architects from Raleigh nestled the home into a hillside 100 feet up, to preside over a lake view outside Charlotte. Its second vista is down to a valley and forest of beech trees.

The main goals were to choreograph the experience of bringing people up the hill into the house – and then unveil the views. “You look to the lake on the east and the forest on the north,” says Matt Griffith, in situ’s co-founder.

You’d never know it on approach from the south, though.

“You come up the drive and don’t see the house ‘til you’re almost in it,” he says. “There’s a layered space between the carport and stairs, and then when you’re inside you see a wall of glass looking down to the lake.”

Before their clients purchased their 10-acre lot, they looked to their potential architects for counsel. “Our first assignment for was to go down there and look at the property and confirm it was a good enough piece of land for them to close on,” he says.

A retired couple who spent a great deal of time in Switzerland during their careers, they brought that country’s design aesthetic with them. They wanted a three-bedroom, three-bath, 3,000 square-foot home – with a minimalist look. “Their aesthetics were aligned with our internal instincts,” he says. “It’s very quiet and nothing more than it needs to be.”

Budget, too, was a consideration. So in situ identified the most important elements on site, and responded with architecture, not lavish materials. “It’s a pretty humble palette,” he says. “There’s Hardie plank, wood-clad aluminum windows with wood for soffitts and accents on the exterior.”

A wood screen separate cars from house. “You come up the drive and see the carport off to one side – it’s where cars park but it’s also the entrance.”

But that entrance is also a portal – to a lush Carolina landscape.

For more, go here.

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