The plan for the whole wooded lakefront site for this term was perplexing me for quite a while. They started by having us design the more minor elements (guest house and tower retreat) first, and now the main house, so now we really have to take a more concrete approach to the integrated site plan. I started with an idea of two long, slender structures (first pic), but could not get the in between courtyard space (felt pinched) or the lower level of main house (only front room got real interaction with nature/light) to feel like they were responding to the real off-axis pull of the site (the center of the view experience of both meadow and lake is about 30 degrees left of center). So I tried an alternate approach. I rotated the lower floor of the main house to broad face the view/nature, which put one of its rooms under the guest house and gave all three bedrooms direct access to the nature and light. So far I've retained this decision. Then I arced the upper complex into a slight ampitheater (massing model in the other two pics). People really liked how it responded to the site. But I struggled to the point of demoralization trying to make an upper level floor plan that both worked and was an enjoyable geometry/form to be in/around. The "Big Move", as my instructor referred to it, could be worked out with more time, but I have now resorted to something much simpler and flexible, which I hated at first, then made peace with, and am now working on making it wonderful space.
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