ledge house

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Collaborating with Gray Organschi Architecture

Project Architect - concept design through construction

Hamden, CT

A couple approached Gray Organschi with the task of creating a special, yet humble in scale, home on a densely wooded property in Hamden, CT.  Steeply sloping topography and extensive wetlands sharply limited the site's buildable area.  By locating the home partially over the edge of a ledge outcropping, we were able to take advantage of these limitations, providing views to the wetland ravine below.  Where the home cantilevers over the ravine, the resulting interior and exterior spaces literally feel as if one is living in a tree house.  The home takes on an L-shaped plan and includes one large living/ dining/ cooking space edged by covered porches looking west and south. This space is book-ended by two private bedrooms with the primary suite featuring a soaring outdoor porch.  Large lift/slide glass doors allow for spaces to literally open up to the outdoors, aligning with the owners' charge to place the house “lightly on the land” and to create a continuous feeling of space from inside to outside. The home features an extensive vegetative green roof to reduce run-off and increase thermal insulation.  In addition, an in-floor radiant system provides efficient heating, and closed-cell spray foam insulation creates a well-sealed thermal envelope for long-term energy savings.  The home's strategic siting, natural material choices, thoughtful door and window placement, and landscape strategy all combine to create a truly special place, deeply rooted in and connected to its surroundings.