The Dutchess County Estate is a suite of buildings and landscapes completed for a prominent New York family on their 400-acres in the Hudson River Valley. Each project was designed to explore, respond to and amplify the beauty of its surroundings and specific context. The Guest House was the first of these to be built, on a site chosen by Allied Works to test ideas and set the tone for future works, and provide accommodation for notable guests from the art world.
Balanced on the slopes above Ryder Creek, the house is located in a mature forest of oak, hickory, and birch. It is a place of silence, reflection and intimacy, reached by a long path from the main clearing. A continuous steel frame weaves through the woods and understory, blurring the boundaries between forest and dwelling. Panels of mahogany and floor-to-ceiling glass slip between, over, and through the frame as it meanders among the trees, leaving terraces and voids as spaces of transition and connection. The house is a place to escape the pressures of the city, and a platform for experiencing nature and the dramatic change of seasons.
