This was a student project by Kate Lubbers for Jon Rieke's course ARCH 2410 in Autumn 2017. Through gathering and analyzing fragments from 18th and 19th century architects, and using H.H. Richardson's Ames Gate Lodge as an organizational precedent, my Retreat House is a double-gated reading getaway. After exploring how those fragments could work together to create larger forms, I chose to explore an 'S' shape that could accommodate the gate from Ames Gate Lodge and create clear destinations in my project. As an elaboration on the Richardson's Gate, which used one gate for one destination, I gave my project two gates and created two destinations- the house and the recreational area of the pool and bocce court. In regards to the organization of the house, the start and end of the 'S' mark the respective public and private hierarchical points. The important public space consists of the living room, the eating room, and the kitchen. The private is the library, which is more private by virtue of it being the farthest point from the public living areas. This was done in the spirit of this project being a Retreat House. It is a place where one can go to get away from the daily distractions of their daily life and enjoy a good read in peace. To mark these areas of importance, and to tie the project together, I drew inspiration from the roof of Toshiki Mori's The Thread in Senegal, giving each respective hierarchical space an oculus.
