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The banks of a small artificial pond in a forested hillside with panoramic vistas beyond the trees was the peaceful spot, some three hours from New York, chosen by a couple of city dwellers for their weekend retreat. The cut and fill required to create the large pond had left the location with several unusual, even unsettling features. The swathe of forested hillside carved out to make way for the spring-fed hollow had left a row of tall spindly trees - typical of sun-starved vegetation deep in a forest - standing uncharacteristically at the water’s edge. However, well known for their ingenious ability to turn constraints into architectural opportunities, Dean/Wolf Architects took these anomalous features as the starting point of their design. After several site inspections in close collaboration with the clients, it became clear that these untoward features were in fact sources of great beauty. The resultant house, Ephemeral Edge, effortlessly reflects the four baseline conditions of the site: the curving edge of the small pond; the torqued banks necessary to construct the pond; the spindly trees at the forest edge; and the silent beauty of the distant vista. It also became immediately apparent that the house should be placed along the curving bank. The focal center of the site, the small pond, expresses the ever-changing beauty of the place as the light on the water varies over the day and with the seasons. Setting the house amid these almost magical features was to bring all these qualities into the house. Located on the north-east side of the pond at the point with the best sightline to the distant view, the construction stands like an evanescent foreign body hovering between water and bank. The retreat takes its shape from three planes that move towards each other until they practically overlap: the line of the deck just above the water; the demarcation between interior and exterior, and the plane drawn from the ridge of the roof. These three lines...
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