{"id":4245,"date":"2017-10-05T18:06:35","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T18:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jfuhrman.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=4245"},"modified":"2017-11-01T18:07:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T18:07:09","slug":"more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-an-artist-designed-house","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jfuhrman.com\/wordpress\/house-2\/descriptions\/more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-an-artist-designed-house\/","title":{"rendered":"5 – AN ARTIST DESIGNED HOUSE"},"content":{"rendered":"

A road through semi-rural Northern Chester County, PA leads to the Old Lincoln School (1867) and its 3000 square foot barn-like addition (1998).\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

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Turning in at a wide gravel drive, there, nestled in the dappled light of the surrounding woods, the house welcomes you with a sense of settled peacefulness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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There is a calmness, a sureness of experience.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Its time is measured by centuries. <\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The sound and texture of the car tires crunching on the gravel underneath signal a transition from the rush of the road.\u00a0 Passing through\u00a0\u2018walls\u2019 of curving planted beds\u2014 tall lilacs, grasses and perennial flowering shrubs\u2014 shielding the view from the road, you find a traditional white stone school house and, an obviously contemporary, red addition capped by two standing-seam barrel roofs.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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The buildings and the landscape are informal, natural. Although the new addition is much larger, it is proportionate to the school house\u2014everything is the right size and in the right place. The gabled school house roof and the curved roofs of the addition, one tilted somewhat rakishly, create a visual dialogue with one another. Together they recede into\u2014become a part of\u2014fit into\u2014are embraced by\u2014the surrounding woods.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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Entrance to the property is set on one corner of 3.7 acres (2 lots) that adjoin 30 acres of a nature preserve, \u2018open-space\u2019. The landscape plan has several informal garden areas and, set into the open woods, a Zen garden; the plan\u00a0 embodies the Japanese concept of “shakkei”<\/em> \u2013\u2018borrowed scenery\u2019. \u00a0Ironically, the Zen garden, based on the Greek Golden Ratio, is the most geometric, rectilinear element of the property and offers a tranquility, a stillness, a constancy within the ever-changing natural scene.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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The front \u2018curb view\u2019 fa\u00e7ade is somewhat understated with few hints of the\u00a0 light filled\u00a0<\/strong>openness of interior spaces<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0 the full woods behind the buildings. The back is completely open toward the woods; the ‘natural’ landscape becomes an extension of the house.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

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The addition’s red walls are accented with wide bands of rich blue trim\u2014as you look up at the eaves they merge with the sky \u2013in summer and winter. And there is a surprise green bay window at the rear! For fun and something of a nod to Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy.\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

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The architecture is a good marriage of 18th<\/sup>, 19th<\/sup> and 20th<\/sup> century thinking. The extended overhanging eaves of the new roofs, the studio shed roof, and the expressed post and lintel wood elements throughout the interior subtly tie the \u2018bones\u2019 of the building to the ground.\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

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\u00a0There is a sense of intimacy and personal connection.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The present owners are sculptor\/teacher James Fuhrman and art historian and experienced gardener Fern Denney. For Fuhrman, \u2018ideas\u2019 are the touchstones of his work \u2013and that each element of a work amplifies and enhances that \u2018idea\u2019. Together with Fern Denney, they conceived the house:\u00a0 t<\/strong>o be connected to the natural<\/em>\u2014<\/strong>\u201cto see the ground\u201d and<\/strong><\/h1>\n