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the private areas and bedrooms. The back
of the house is something of a light box, with
a lovely indoor/outdoor flow offering easy
access to the manicured garden grounds.
The atmosphere is spacious, airy, pleasant.
As Phillips puts it, "A place to enjoy the
extended views and be amongst the
adjacent trees." If not floating among them.
An architecture this pristine does not
require additional theater to make it
interesting, but Berkshire House II does
make an astonishing entrance via a modest
vestibule that opens to a stunning double-
height space in what was conceived as "a
sequential journey that references entering
the Guggenheim museum in NYC by Frank
Lloyd Wright," says Phillips. And just like
that bit of architectural history-making,
this solution also aspires to spectacle
with nearly 20-foot-tall glazed doors. But
these soaring glass apertures, which open
the space to the rear garden and supply
it with an elegant and ethereal light, is not
just drama for drama's sake, but an honest
gesture that is authentic to, and in service
of, the architecture and its connection to the
outdoors.
One correctly reads the house as an
extension of the landscape. Not only does
it embrace the woodland setting, it is
enveloped by it. The house also draws its
character from a palette of raw, contrasting
materials—Danish grey brickwork, whitened
Canadian Western Red Cedar, polished
concrete floors—to fulfill the clients' desire
to "'run their hands through the treetops,'"
according to the studio. To that end, no
trees were removed (nor were their roots
impacted) in the construction of the house
so that the architecture communes with
nature almost constantly, directly through
its views and in subtle decorative gestures
that reflect its beauty.
In minimalist fashion, however, the interior
is not overdone. It is quiet and reserved.
Serene. Little by way of decoration is
actually needed, but among its harmonious
mix of clean lines and refined finishes are
some lustrous and lavishly applied stone
surfaces and superb organic accessories
including a stout raw-edge wood dining
table in the entrance hall with chic, industrial-
tinged light fixtures above. All elements are
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