Situated on a peninsula on Ossipee Lake, New Hampshire, the lakeside cottage addresses a wide range of parameters, including climate, passive energy performance, accessibility and privacy for multigenerational living, and an openness towards the spectacular wooded surroundings and views.
The cottage's lakeside site is uniquely challenging. Beyond its climate, topography, and vegetation - all orientations offer distinct opportunities in need of reconciliation: there are northern views, sparse southern solar exposure, western summer and northwestern winter winds, and southern and eastern neighbors to shield from.
The client family is invested both in the intermingling of the three generations, and the acknowledgment of the interdependent needs of all the generations. To this regard, the family favors the degree to which the spaces may be used as a gathering continuous sequence, whilst providing rather separate moments of isolation and play.
Using a process of adaptive computational design, the architect developed an elemental prism that maximizes interior volume while affording a high passive environmental efficiency and minimum impact on the site. The folded roof simultaneously negotiates the southern exposure, the northern views, the management of rain and snow precipitation, and the summer westerly winds. The interior of the prism is articulated as interconnected cells that afford a complex landscape of social interaction. The process is then reiterated in a fractal fashion to address a multi-generational dwelling program: A conjoined second prism - evolved from the first one, provides a discreet yet connected realm for the young adults occupying the middle level. Below it, the ground floor is given over to the grandparents’ quarters.
