The
site is on a hilltop in rural Pennsylvania. It is a weekend retreat center for
the Western Pennsylvania Wilderness Preservation Society. Already existing on
the site are formal gardens, an old stone wall, and 2 small cabins. Three grid
orientations are laid-down as the framework and organization of the design.
One grid is oriented to the cardinal points and the other two are aligned with
the pre-existing cabins, walls and gardens.
Procession through the retreat center begins between cornfields that have been
planted on either side of a path on axis with a gate in old wall framing the
view of the distant landscape. The path turns left at the gate and gradually
descends into the ground between granite walls. This path leads to the the earth-covered
lodge at the far end of the hill. Continuing through the wall, the expanse of
the panoramic view is fully revealed, arriving at the remains of the formal
gardens. These hedge-enclosed outdoor rooms are seasonally changing bogs and
marshes. Passing between these two spaces you are back on the main axis on which
you entered. This main axis leads down the other side of the hill upon which
clusters of buried cells/lodgings are scattered. It is in these quiet, solitary
spaces that guests will come to stay for the weekend, meditating and reflecting
on the state of our natural habitat.