ragged mountain sunroom

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Charlottesville, VA 

This sunroom will transform the clients' daily patterns and habits as they desire to spend more time surrounded by nature.  The addition is sited strategically between the existing house and a low retaining wall with a steep incline beyond, leading up to the Ragged Mountain forest and trail system.  Bracketed by this heavily vegetated hillside and the safety of the existing home, the sunroom feels both thrust into nature and yet private and protected.  The space steps down from the first floor, allowing for increased ceiling height while negotiating the 2' grade change to the existing bluestone terrace below.  The walls are entirely floor-to-ceiling glass, with large lift-slide openings.  Floors are bluestone to complement the existing adjacent stone terrace.  Wood ceilings extend beyond the plane of glass, accentuating the feeling that one is outside when viewed from within.   Louvers and overhangs are designed to block direct summer sunlight while allowing lower-angled winter sunlight to penetrate into the space, taking advantage of the thermal mass of the stone floors.