Five Gables

Upper Delaware River Valley, Pennsylvania

Construction - Started August 2022

In Progress

Design Team
Max Worrell, Jejon Yeung, Cohen Hudson, Joseph Hsu

Collaborators
Structural Engineer: Silman
Landscape Architect: Land Stewards
Contractor: Anns Construction

Five Gables is a modern family retreat nestled into a dynamic landscape of dense woodlands, a spring-fed stream, and a large lake in the Upper Delaware River Valley of Pennsylvania. The approach through a wooded landscape filters the house and provides a slow reveal and progressive approach to the building. To minimize any disturbance to the surrounding landscape, the house is embedded into the rock landscape and maintains the prominent view towards the lake.

Formally the house is a collection of repeating gabled volumes that are connected internally yet visually distinct in their mass and orientation. Collectively, these structures accommodate the needs of a larger home, and are organized to create a series of outdoor courtyards and terraces that uniquely engage the surrounding sloped landscape. Upon entering the property, a fifth freestanding guest house anchors the highest point of the site with the driveway and existing stream flowing around it towards the lake.

the house is a collection of repeating gabled volumes that are connected internally yet visually distinct in their mass and orientation.

Inside, a series of generous social gathering spaces structure the space, which are bookended with two more private zones: one wing offers smaller scaled bedrooms for children and guests, and another wing is dedicated to the primary bedroom suite. A large great room becomes the physical connector of the house with an overscale stone fireplace and hearth as a gathering place. The vaulted communal living spaces are lined with large windows that frame views of the forest and lake.

The simple geometric volumes are articulated with local quarried Pennsylvania stone ends, stained-pine vertical siding and zinc metal roofs that come together to create a muted yet rustic material palette that both contrasts and draws directly from the local landscape. The interiors, completed with unfinished character-grade white pine cladding and casework combined with extensive stone work, imbue a distinct texture with a character of being hand-crafted and patina that will develop over time.