The Falling Leaves

Featured in Architectural Digest, The Falling Leaves is inspired by the shapes and curled edges of falling oak leaves, Bercy Chen Studio incorporated this imagery as a design motif for a series of sheltering pavilion roofs. The house is positioned in the far corner of the site on the edge of limestone cliffs above a bend in the stream. Like a deconstructed belvedere, the house nestles into the landscape below: three glass pavilions informally splayed around the rimrock, stepping down the plateau with the topography.

A meandering drive traces gently across the topography to preserve the majority of the site as a dedicated nature habitat. Upon arriving at a carport, the pavilions of The Falling Leaves delicately unfold below as a series cascading hyperbolic paraboloid roofs supported by undulating rows of exposed glulam rafters. Each pavilion has its own character and orientation: the living wing, set perpendicular to the cliff face, cantilevers into the canopy of trees to float above the stream below; the bedroom wing incorporates an opaque circulation spine to contrast with the expansive glass walls of the bedrooms; and in the pool house, a linear lap pool is perched on the cliff precipice above a series of cascading rapids. Finally, at the nexus of all 3 pavilions sits an outdoor courtyard and fire pit centered around an existing limestone boulder. Here, the family can experience the four elements of nature binding the home together: the earth’s embrace, the wind rustling through the trees, the water flowing below, and the warmth of the fire at the hearth.