Roxbury House Roxbury, Connecticut | 2021

Architects: Desai Chia Architecture PC.
Lead Architect: Katherine Chia
Contractor: Berkshire Wilton
Client: Private
Photographers: Paul Warchol

The Roxbury House marries art and landscape in intimate and broad moments. The house is located on an existing site and positioned on the edge of a 12-acre site in order to minimize site disturbance and allow the existing open meadow and forest to support local wildlife.

The form of the house is organized by a series of undulating roofs that express a variety of programs and capture respective views of the landscape. Two courtyards serve as outdoor galleries, allowing the clients to showcase sculpture and site-specific installations throughout the year as an extension of their NYC art gallery.

The house plays with changing terrain and uses native tree species to allow the surrounding forest to weave through the project.

Indoor and outdoor spaces oscillate at different scales with long axial views through the house, merging spaces with layers of materials and light as well as distant views of the landscape. Tighter spaces like hallways have integrated display shelves for art and are flanked with windows, creating new extensions to the outdoor courtyard galleries.

“Shou sugi ban” wood is used as an exterior material for its sustainable qualities, while structural steel and structural wood materials were minimized to reduce material waste.