As humans we’re drawn to nature. A snowy mountain top, a muted forest, a great expanse of water, and I understand why, as they all let us connect with a part of ourselves that, too often, we lose sight of in the hectic lives we lead.
Experiencing a great expanse, be it land or water, we feel a great expanse within ourselves. We connect to something bigger, to that part of ourselves that lies deep within us, and when we find it, we are calmed. Designing to embrace nature means imagining life unfolding in a home that is so specific to the land on which it is sited.
Fulfilling that, I begin with my list of “I wills”: I will tromp through the snow and be cold in the winter. I will hike in the mountains and feel the heat of the summer. I will see the leaves as their colors change in autumn. I will jump into the lake in every
season. I will create a private meditation box that contains leaves, branches, stones, pebbles. I will create exaltation.
This is my process, my point of departure in every project. Wherever there is a place my clients tell me they love, I find my way to it. If it speaks to them, if it’s their joy, I go to it and search for its quietest, deepest part, because deep and quiet, to me, are
soulful. For them, that place was Lake Tahoe, and I was committed to experiencing it all year ‘round, just as I had done as a happy child.
Overlooking Rubicon Bay
Lake Tahoe is many things: deep, clear, and, as it’s surrounded by the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, impossibly beautiful. Swimming in Lake Tahoe, however, is only one thing, cold.
However, there are gradations, and they go from cold, to very cold, to icy cold, to hypothermic cold. I know this from personal experience. As a child, we had a family home there and summer swimming was the highlight of every day. As an adult, I had the honor of designing a home for a family. They were the clients that brought me the greatest joy as they were completely involved
in the process, excited about all the possibilities, and there was a complete trust between us.
We collaborated on all of the details, which made the whole project even more beautiful.
Surrounded by Nature
