Big Wood Residence

Local vernacular and a minimalist concept drove the design of the Big Wood Residence, situated just south of Sun Valley, Idaho. This home for Mark de Reus and his family celebrates the career of its architect, who incorporated lessons from thirty-five years of practice into this, his most personal work. The project features themes that our firm is known for—inserting asymmetry into a symmetrical plan, attentively selecting and crafting natural materials, and incorporating ancient aesthetics into a contemporary design. Most significantly, this design has a simplicity that belies its complexity.  The home consists of the simple shapes of two practical building forms: a two-story barn form for the living areas, and a flat-roofed structure harkening low-slung ranch outbuildings for the garage, storage, and terrace. The barn form runs north–south on a long, thin, east–west site. Its two floors contain 3,760 square feet of space: living room, kitchen, and master suite on the ground floor, and recreation room and two bedrooms on the second. A two-story window lights the eastern entrance and stairway; it is designed to appear like a warm welcoming lantern on a dark night. Large windows on the western wall offer sunset views toward the Big Wood River at the rear of the lot.  The project’s gray-black stained wood exterior and dark-gray metal roof harmonizes with the color of the aspen trees that dominate its eight-acre site. To play off of the aspens, de Reus chose dark colors for the building’s exterior—onyx stained vertical spruce siding, graphite gray standing seam metal roof, black aluminum-clad windows, and a dark anodized aluminum garage door. The interior is dominated by eastern white pine with a light finish that shows the grain but protects the wood from ultraviolet light. A blackened steel fireplace commands the living room.  Some of Big Wood Residence’s details came as special requests from his family. De Reus’s wife wanted a barn door, which he included in the garage, and his daughter asked for a window seat in her bedroom. Others were inspired by the site. A light gray granite for the kitchen counter was chosen to work well with the aspens; a cast-glass light fixture reflects the site’s history as a place where block ice was cut from the river. One prominent detail—a shelf projecting from the fireplace mantel—was designed for a sculpture of Garuda that de Reus acquired in Bali.  Project Team Architecture: de Reus Architects Contractor: Young Construcción  Civil Engineer: Galena Engineers  Structural Engineer: Maxwell Structural Design Studio  Mechanical Engineer: Mark Morrison, P.E., Inc.  Geotechnical Engineer: Butler Engineering  Landscape: NS Consulting, PLLC  de Reus Design Team Mark de Reus – Project Architect  John Rowland – Project Manager  Lindsey Akiona - Designer  Photography Gaber Border