Ridge House / GriD Architects

Architects: GriD Architects
Area: 121 m²
Year: 2013
Photography: Paul Burk
City: Berkeley Springs
Country: United States

Ridge House, a residential project by GriD Architects, stands on a narrow site along the Potomac River, where it replaces a rancher destroyed by fire with a modest yet inspiring retreat. Completed in 2013, the house draws inspiration from the traditional Appalachian dog trot, optimizing site exposure and enhancing the connection to nature. The architects employed a sustainable material palette, incorporating passive solar solutions to create an environment that harmonizes with its surroundings.

This retreat, envisioned for a painter and art historian, offers a tranquil space where creativity and relaxation converge. The design features a small painting studio, study, master suite, living room, dining room, and kitchen. Emphasizing a deep connection to the natural landscape, Ridge House allows nature to seamlessly permeate the interior, preserving the site’s beauty while providing a serene weekend escape.

This focus on enhancing the site’s characteristic influenced every design aspect, including function, form, and sustainability, often addressing these simultaneously.

The plan reinterprets the vernacular dog trot house common in Appalachia, aligning the private spaces along the ridge in a linier bar running east-west to optimize the building’s long exposures. The public areas shift towards the river view and the Berkeley Springs & Potomac Railroad below. This arrangement creates a formal overlap, subtly reminiscent of the Edinburgh Limestone formations in the region, like the iconic Seneca Rocks. The overlap also supports a passive solar solution with clerestory windows drawing light into the living room from the south. The material palette includes standing seam metal roofing and locally sourced hemlock arranged in opposing striations, echoing the rock outcroppings and reinforcing the volume overlap.