Highland House
Madison, Wisconsin

When confronted with designing a residence, it is anticipated that most everyone has a very personal notion of what their dream home should be. In this case, the clients wanted a place to offer surprise and delight at every turn and the resulting house appears as a small village, capturing the spirit of an Italian hilltop villa (a specific inspiration from the inhabitants). Each major living space is contained in a uniquely shaped polygonal volume and the building is clad in a variety of materials to not only help visually reduce the scale of the home but offer unexpected opportunities for personal enjoyment in the context of the usual expectations of a home. The home is also an exploration of using healthy materials that were free of additives and materials that would prove detrimental to the inhabitants. Great care was employed to design a home that was both healthy to the body and uplifting to the spirit.