Hidlay Architecture

The lived experience

Towers, gables, and tall windows organize the house around the valley.

The first two rooms establish the lived experience the project was built to create. From there, renderings, construction photographs, and completed views follow the house from intent to structure to finish. The long dining room opens through arches toward the deck and landscape. The breakfast room gathers below the glazed tower. Together they make the daily experience that guided the design.

Dining room with a long table, stone arches, and views toward the Pennsylvania landscape — Dining room and the landscape beyond

Round breakfast table beneath clerestory windows overlooking a river valley — Breakfast room beneath the glazed tower

01 · Design intent

The design starts with a tower, gables, terraces, and long views.

Front and rear renderings coordinate the entry, garage, central window wall, stair tower, deck, and pool before those elements reach the site.

Architectural rendering of the rear elevation with a pool, terraces, and glazed tower — Design intent · Rear elevation

Architectural rendering of the front elevation with a three-car garage, arched entry, and tower — Design intent · Front elevation

02 · Structure

Concrete and framing turn the drawn geometry into inhabitable rooms.

The shell reveals the hill-supported lower level. Framed arches establish the interior sequence, and scaffolding records the transition from enclosure to stone and stucco.

Partially framed hillside residence above insulated concrete foundation walls — Shell and foundation · July 2017

Unfinished timber-framed corridor with a sequence of arched openings — Framed arches · September 2017

Multi-story residence under scaffolding during stucco and stone veneer installation — Exterior finish work · June 2021

03 · Completion

The finished elevations keep the hierarchy established in the early studies.

From the rear, the window wall and tower face the valley. At the front, stone, stucco, copper roofs, and the arched entry give the same composition its material weight.

Aerial view of the completed rear elevation with a wraparound deck, twin exterior stairs, and glazed tower — Rear elevation, deck, and tower

Completed stone and stucco front elevation with an arched entry and three-car garage — Front elevation from the lawn

04 · Rooms and materials

Inside, height and detail keep directing attention back to the landscape.

The great room, stair tower, fieldstone, slate, timber, and iron bring the large exterior forms down to the scale of rooms and touch.

Vaulted great room with a floor-to-ceiling window wall overlooking a forested river valley — Vaulted window wall and valley view

Octagonal skylight tower above a curved wood-and-steel staircase — The stair rising through the glazed tower

Rough-cut fieldstone chimney breast with wrought-iron sconces — Fieldstone chimney breast and ironwork