This home is situated at the crest of an old dune and wraps a grand  oak at the center of the site. A series of wood landings follows the natural terrain to a stone terrace, where a covered gathering space overlooks an infinity-edge pool, a bird-filled lagoon, and the beach beyond.  The building is comprised of two primary  masses connected by a bridge on the main living level.  Thick masonry walls, rendered in Venetian plaster, provide structural rigidity and offer a ruin-like frame for the lighter infill of wood, copper, and glass.  The light-filled interior is made of surprisingly intimate spaces, which are finished in natural materials like stone and leather.  One’s sense of transparency is heightened by the width of glass and the lack of horizontal mullions.

This project appeared in Charleston Magazine, “Through the Looking Glass,” February 2011. It was also featured on the Annual Kiawah Island Art and House Tour, April 2011 (an event sponsored by Gibbes, etc. to benefit the Gibbes Museum of Art).

*Ken Huggins, AIA, Project Architect and Founding Partner, Red Charrette Architects, Inc. (now dissolved)