Text description provided by the architects. This project explores the idea of creating a space for both painting and drawing set against an intense landscape of shale cliffs, forest and ponds. Overlooking the hills of the Taconic State Park, this isolated site is one of several free standing structures making up a compound for an artist and a curator/writer. To create a space for both drawing and painting, in addition to providing for the amenities of storage, cooking, cleaning, and reading, posed the problem of how to achieve extreme openness in order to move freely between the mediums of painting and drawing. The design focuses on constructing an open space from painting to drawing uninterrupted by structure. This dictated the design of the structural system and enabled a column free interior with moment frames on each end that would serve as external porches and viewing spaces between nature and the built environment.
