A spectacular site, and clients who long contemplated escaping into a rural idyll, have resulted in a compact and faithful expression of the clients’ ideals. A strongly axial arrangement has at its centre the open living pavilion – a spare, contemplative space. Intersecting forms provide secondary and utility space, and a screened northern porch floats into the landscape and frames the mountain views. A floating gable signals the rural home; outstretching ancillary forms are modelled in contrasting steel and larch.