The couple’s love for with the wonderfully massive bedrock outcrop inhabiting their entire backyard shaped our first conversation much more than the specifics of their new sunroom/home office. We started drawing together right then and soon realized that whatever building we made there had to become, in a way, part of the rock itself. From that “The Grotto” idea formed. With careful coordination between builder and architect, stone from the outcrop is reshaped into a curving wall that emerges from a fold in the rock to embrace the work-at-home area.
The wall’s mass visually and structurally roots the flowing post and beam roof structure to the landscape. The rooftop hosts an ecosystem of native plants collected by the couple, their children, and neighbours. Passive solar designed overhangs keeps the space naturally cool in summer and warm in the winter. Seamless glass details allow the eye to continue, uninterrupted, into the landscape.
