GEO 1 PROJECT
EAST BRANCH, NEW YORK. 2013. Geo 1 is a project for an unbuilt house designed for two geologists, who eventually occupied the more humble and much more economical project known as the ’East Branch House’ included in this same website.
This unbuilt predecessor splayed out across a small river valley in the Catskill Hills, is dug into the ground so that the north masonry wall serves as a buttress holding back the earth to offer up a space on its south side, facing the view down the valley and absorbing sun and light. The East Branch River winds its way through this view. One enters the house by a descending against the outside of the masonry wall, then passing through it into the enclosure of the house. The interior spaces are formed by a light timber and glazed wall that casually meanders in and out in relation to the fixed masonry wall on the north side. The timber framed roof staddles the spaces between. The masonry wall also has its own thickness into which pockets of space are borrowed to house a collection of rare minerals and rocks, as well as sleeping bunks. It also serves as a thermal heat sink.
