RIVANNA RIVER FORAGING RETREAT 04.

WHEN: WHERE:

October 2021

Rivanna River Trail Charlottesville, VA

The welcoming retreat is embedded into the topography as a seamless extension to the beauty of the site’s natural landscape. Visitors approach the retreat on the eastern trail, stepping down towards the Rivanna River. The sloping movement of the roofline forms two pathways on the site: one moving down to the entrances and courtyards, the other up towards the rooftop. The expansive west wall of glass windows ensures expansive views of the site’s scenic surroundings. Differing from the orthogonal construction of the interior spaces, the organic roof structure allows for the combination between a green meadow as a region to grow the forgeable dandelions as well as a rooftop terrace for relaxation overlooking the river, protected by the surrounding dense greenery.

As the forager studies dandelions, these ribbons intend to relate to the petals of a dandelion, expanding outwards at different lengths and widths. A series of ribbons as the roof structure correlates to the interior layout’s thickenened vertical walls and spatially in the private retreat, education space, and showcase room. Following the rhythmic extension of each roof portion, this shifting was continued to the interior layout in an attempt to create more secluded, private rooms like the secondary bedroom, main bathroom, and two reading niches in the education space. In response to the concentration of natural light on the glass wall towards the west, the modification of the roof ribbons creates pockets for natural light to infiltrate into the guest bedroom and the education reading nook on the east.

Roof: Walkways + Outdoor Sunken-In Seating