Farrar Residence

By Francesco Pagliari - 7 January 2010

This isolated Utah residence designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is a tiny dot in an immense wooded alpine landscape of shrubs and tall slender trees. The three-storey building follows the steep sloping terrain to offer a multitude of vistas. By intersecting two linear volumes at right angles, the architects have created a variety of spaces, environments and functions. The west side of the first level hugs a sloping retaining wall. On the open east side, next to the secondary entrance, a lightweight glazed structure projects outward in deliberate contrast to the long high wall that forms the sturdy base of the building in the manner of shored-up terracing. The first level of the south wing houses a large car-port accessible directly from the road leading to the house.
The other two south-facing perpendicular wings are occupied by a gym and wellness room. The most striking architectural feature is the long narrow swimming pool: a luminous linear volume in concrete with steel beams and glazed walls rising the height of the surrounding forest and culminating in a cantilever over a seasonal creek. The main entrance, on the second level, is reached by a flight of square-base external stairs. The south wing contains the guest quarters, two bedrooms with bathroom and a studio. It also gives access to a wooden-decked terrace over the garage roof.
The volume lying parallel to the slope houses the dining room and living area: a single space with wooden flooring and wide picture windows set in a steel mullion and transom grid and framed by the wooden beams visible under the overhang of the roof that stretches over the second and third levels. Outside, the swimming pool roof doubles as a partly covered terrace. On the third floor, the main night zone has accessory areas and services. The stairwell forms a structural block connecting the three levels. It also supports three chimney flues: the first placed against the stone clad wall at the back of the living room;...