This nature-centered retreat includes an environmentally responsive home, modern barn, and guest house situated along the banks of an Army Corps of Engineers-operated reservoir in Southwest Missouri. While the lake is a popular recreation destination, the context is largely rural and wild because, as a means of flood control, construction along the shoreline is tightly controlled. However, this site is unique in that its steep grades position it above pre-established flood elevations and close to the water’s edge.
Following a journey down heavily wooded, two-lane county roads and a winding gravel trail, it is difficult to be prepared for the wide-open panoramic views this natural overlook affords. Yet, instead of immediately giving the lake-view away, the organization and composition of the structures progressively focuses and frames long views to choreograph the arrival sequence and build anticipation for the final reveal of the water, which takes place inside the home. The journey to water’s edge then continues around and through the home, which incorporates the trail to the lakeshore with internal and external stairways and outdoor walks and patios.
The form of the house and accessory structures takes notes from regional Ozark bluffs and rocky outcroppings, with the house becoming a lightly supported, sheltering mass perched on a kind of manmade boulder embedded in the hillside. Simple forms and natural materials like slate shingles, exposed concrete, wood plank cladding, wood flooring and wall paneling, and raw steel help the structures sit at ease in the landscape.
