This Pennsylvania “Forest Retreat” Turns Design on its Head

An upside-down floorplan is just one highlight of this nature-focused family home.

Sometimes landscape-responsive architecture affects designs in subtle ways. An entranceway built into a hill here, a cantilevered porch and sliding doors to maximize views there. But in the case of the “Forest Retreat,” nestled in the hills and rolling farmland of northeast Pennsylvania, the influence of the lot and land had a more profound impact for homeowners Bill and Jenn, as well as their architect, Gabe Hodge. It completely flipped the traditional floor plan.

“Our house, it's unique because it's upside down,” Jenn said. “Our bedrooms are on the first floor and our main living area and our kitchen is on the second floor.”

The reason for this shift-and-flip was informed by a unique, historic element: a more than century old, but long abandoned, railroad bed that cuts through one side of the lot. This feature that at one point saw locally harvested ice and freshly cut timber transported by train through the area, now created a returned-to-nature buffer that made the perfect privacy berm for the home.

Hodge, an architect with Materia Prima Studio, sited the home fast along the railroad bed and placed the bedrooms on the first floor, creating calm, quiet, sleeping quarters.

But then for the second floor, he designed a large, open, vaulted space, with walls separating the specific rooms, but in some cases, leaving walls short of the ceiling. The effect is almost reminiscent of a Scandinavian longhouse in its scope and size, or a wooden ship at sea, with warm wood, multiple beams, and natural views (oh, the forest views!) everywhere.

Framing those views in the main living space? Oversized Marvin Ultimate direct glaze units with Douglas Fir trim, perfectly tying into the all-timber-all-the-time experience of the second floor.

“They’re bigger than any window I've ever been exposed to,” Bill said, “and I think they're perfect for this house.”

For more on the upside-down Forest Retreat, including its family farm roots, its stunning green roof, its feeling of growing out of the woods, and why Hodge wanted the windows to seem like “the absence of wall,” check out this case study video.