Floor Plans
About Resolution: 4 Architecture
| Project | Berkshire House |
| Architects | Resolution: 4 Architecture |
| Manufacturer | Simplex Homes |
| Area | 2,227 sf |
| Bedrooms | 3 |
| Bathrooms | 2 |
| Modules | 6 modules, Butterfly Roof |
| Location | West Stockbridge, Massachusetts |
| Year | 2007 |
Description by architects
Situated three hours north of New York City and two hours west of Boston, the Berkshire Mountains have long been a vacation destination for urban dwellers. This particular escape was designed for a Brooklyn couple and their teenage son for use primarily on the weekends throughout the year. Raised slightly above grade, the house sits in a natural clearing on the edge of a plateau, overlooking a steep drop formed by the Housatonic River.
Leaving the car behind, visitors enter the house up a gently sloping ramp, transitioning to a large outdoor covered space. Designed to accommodate a future screened porch, this entry threshold frames views of the woods, valley, and mountains beyond. The single-story main volume of the home, clad in cement board panels and glass, is placed perpendicularly to the two-story cedar volume. Similar to The Dwell Home, this 2,100-square-foot composition is also a variation of the Two-Bar Bridge in the L Series typology. Both have communal loftlike spaces that are wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass, surrounded by trees, and flanked by decks. An upper bar of private spaces bridges over the large exterior space, forming a portal to the site.
Whereas The Dwell Home contains a carport under the bridge piece, the Berkshire House includes space for a future screened porch surrounding the house's main entrance. Similar to The Dwell Home though, this home responds to its climate and site with a roof deck, a butterfly roof to collect rainwater, and clerestory windows that face south in the Berkshire's northern climate to maximize solar heat gain. Utilizing the constant temperature of the earth, the Berkshire House is heated and cooled through the use of geothermal energy, increasing the sustainability factor beyond that of The Dwell Home.