Emigration House

Instead of adopting the customary approach of making a hilltop residence “cascade” down the mountain slope towards the valley below, Steven Christensen, founder of PBLC, had to make a very different design decision since the best panoramic view from the project’s designated lot was not the usual orientation but the back side of the knoll. Discreetly located at some distance from the access road, the residence slips noiselessly into the natural topography, but instead of descending down the main slope, it climbs back upwards towards the point where it can catch a glimpse of the city below. Regulations limited the property’s buildable surface area to only 9% of the entire lot, added to which, the decision was also made not to place the building atop the ridge and so leave the mountain silhouette unscathed.

Standing some 1,870 m above sea level in Emigration Canyon, a historic migration route taken by settlers – from the famous Donner Party to the Mormon pioneers – Emigration House makes strategic use of its site in order to capture views of the surrounding mountain scenery and the more densely populated valley below. The resultant geometric form is far from being a quirky architect’s preference. Non-parallel regulating lines are an essential, pragmatic tool solving a specific site-imposed issue: connecting diagonally – in plan and in section – four main volumes whose upper and lower parts are not only of different sizes but on different levels. Non-parallel lines define the geometry of the foyer space, which leads to the
semi-sunken living area in the lower reaches of the house, which, in turn, is the central hinge element.

The volume’s sectional fold is mirrored by a fold in plan, ensuring continuity between the volumes and generating formal complexities that direct entry views across the unspoiled, protected mountain landscape toward Dale Benchmark and Perkins Peak. The spatial...

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