The Forest Floor Schroon Lake, NY / 2024

‘Forest Floor’ is a unique project in collaboration with our friends at Gray Organschi. The project is situated on the steep shoreline of Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks. The client’s goal was deceptively simple: repurpose an existing 20-year-old builder-box “log cabin” to create a minimalist house that recedes into the landscape while focusing all spaces, interior and exterior, on the lake beyond...and make it feel like it had always been there on day one. Our solution was to emulate the palette of Adirondackian flora and geology, painting over the impacts of construction with native ferns, pine needles, leaf litter, and tree detrites all harvested from the site. We worked closely with the construction team to preserve existing trees and boulder placement. We eliminated the extremely steep asphalt driveway, making way for a sinuous procession to the residence that reveals itself slowly with every turn. Tactility, texture and the audial response to walking on natural materials were extremely important to the client, from the locally sourced glacial aggregate on the entry drive, the patina and moss on stone outcroppings, to the feeling of pine needle litter under your feet on the way to the lake.

Architect | Gray Organschi