My wife Ellen and I are building a cool new contemporary house. We call it Cassilhaus as a contraction of our two last names. We have been designing it for over 3 years and finally it is a reality. This blog is about this odessey.
Alternately called “The Trapezoid House” or “The Tree House,” Cassilhaus celebrates asymmetry as it deploys three trapezoidal volumes across a very steep and densely forested site affording breathtaking views of Duke Forest and New Hope Creek. Two living “pods”-- a multi-level main house and a self-contained guest house programmed for month-long visiting artist residencies, are joined by a long bridging structure housing a photography gallery and master suite all of which is encircled by a clerestory.
Some background--We searched like crazy for land with running water for almost 5 years. We searched GIS tax maps looking for plots without buildings and wrote letters to the owners. It finally paid off and we bought this beautiful 3 acres adjacent to Duke Forest and New Hope Creek in Orange County, NC in 2004. Ellen is an architect and I am a design geek. Working with Anna, another architect in her office we have slowly and meticulously designed our dream home and on December 14th Billy started clearing the land...
