Chickahominy River House

Near the headwaters of the Chickahominy River, the site is a confluence of historical and ecological richness. The house is perched on a berm at the edge of a dense hardwood forest, just before the landscape begins to fall into lower marshlands which frequently flood. Among the diverse ecosystem of wetland wildlife, the site has traces of Civil War occupation and permacultural remnants of previous use as a tree farm.

This new residence acts as a string of contained spaces, each with a different view to nature. An axial path is delineated by the weight of a cast-in-place concrete wall, as room modules on each side are bracketed by solid walls to direct views of the landscape. The house is organized along the this central path according to levels of privacy and openness, giving the clients a range of spaces to inhabit over the course of the day. The materiality of the project is a simple palette of raw concrete, steel roof framing, and luxurious oak finishes to infill the floors and niches of cabinetry. With the owner being a accomplished craftsman, many unique details of the house will be made as purposeful art fabrications.

From the initial concept phase, the driver of the project has been a sense of immersion into the natural landscapes of the site. Being sited on an ecotone between marshland forest and farm meadow, the plan became organized into two distinct sides - public and private - to match the feeling of these opposing outdoor spaces. With the expansive meadow on the south and west, great care was taken to provide both deep overhangs and heavy thermal mass elements in those directions in order to maximize the penetrating warmth of the evening sun. The double shed roofs are also oriented toward the meadow to bring as much light as possible into the rear of the house.

Approaching the house, one arrives from the east through the forest. This was intentional to have the visitor emerge from the trees to an open expanse of pond and marshes beyond. As an element in this landscape, the house forms a boundary to mark change: a wall that reinforces the forest edge. Aside from those main concrete walls, the rest of the house is meant to be porous, allowing plants and living things to slip between the nooks of the exterior. On the forest side, contained boxes are separated to allow the landscape to penetrate toward the interior, and the entry steps rise like stones from the soil to meet the front door. On the farm side, the rooms are as open as possible to the land, with the floor plane continuing into the meadow. Observation of flora and fauna is integral to the daily experience of the owner, and this directed many of the sightlines in the project.

Building on this site, the design team acknowledged the overlay of many intersectional histories of the land - Native American trade route, lush wildlife foodway, Civil War regiment passage, seasonal floodwaters, and contested modern utility corridor. Given the ever-changing nature of this place, we intended to build a resilient structure with a concrete core that would last generations. The central walls and support chimneys act as robust piers for this house, and could easily be configured for other infill configurations of different uses as the use of the property inevitably changes over time.

Location: Richmond, VA
Date: Unbuilt
Size: 2,900 SF