Odes to nature, plus the largest Marvin Modern windows available, are just some of the highlights.
A thoroughly modern home made with materials ranging from glass and steel to concrete and high-density fiberglass, plus features like an in-ground pool and the largest Marvin Modern windows available? It all seems about as far as you can get from a book called “Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties: The Classic Guide to Building Wilderness Shelters.” But for architect Paul Lewandowski, this 1914 book serving as inspiration for a New Hampshire project made perfect sense.
Written by D.C. Beard, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, the book is a how-to guide to all forms of hand-built backcountry dwellings. Lewandowski happened upon a copy in the run-up to the planning of the “Notch House” (more on the name later), and its spirit is alive and well in the house.
“Obviously, this is a very modern house. It is nothing like a cabin in the woods,” Lewandowski said with a chuckle. “But the elements of a cabin in the woods: the materiality, the wood, how you site the project, how it has view of something, how it feels when you come up to it? All of those features of a cabin, in some ways, are in here.”
Something to Look Forward To
Nestled in the forested mountains of northern New Hampshire, where moose- crossing highway signs sometimes outnumber cars, it only makes sense that the Notch House would take cues from the area’s rustic cabin history and evergreen surroundings. For Lewandowski, that meant honoring the landscape and the views, finding harmony and nature around every corner. “Always having something … that you’re looking towards,” as he put it.
To achieve this view-focused layout, Lewandowski drew up plans for a two-story home featuring a modular, suspended box design with a strong linear central spine; its main floor living space acting as centerpiece and pavilions off to either side. On one side of the first floor: a showstopping, glass-bridge hallway connected to the primary suite. On the other: the garage and one of the most scenic stairways in all of America.
The homeowner agreed with this simple, but stunning, glass-enclosed design: “I still get a kick out of this tower that the stairway is in,” he said. “It’s just basically all glass. That’s just tickles me to no end, every time I use it.”
These stunning stairs lead to that second-story “cube,” with bedrooms and a workout room, and so many natural views it’s tough to choose the best one. (“We have a view from everywhere,” the homeowner happily reported.)
The lower section of this second-floor cube features a raftered wooden base, which is carried into the interior of the home, creating a cabin-esque ceiling for the kitchen and dining area. The change in scale created by this detail—from the warmth and coziness of the kitchen to the light, bright, airy, and scenic living room—is nothing short of spectacular.
All in the Details
Modern Direct Glaze windows in Stone White, Ultimate Swinging French Door
To get the most out of all this scenery meant the need for a lot of glass. Thankfully for Lewandowski, he had a collaborator who could help him achieve his views-at-every-turn vision: Marvin architectural project manager, Matt LeGeyt.
Over the years, LeGeyt had made it a point to keep Lewandowski up to date with new Marvin offerings, and just as the architect was working through the plans for the Notch House, the Marvin Modern windows and doors became available. LeGeyt was the perfect resource for not only explaining the new products, but also to assure Lewandowski that this innovative line, while just on the market and yet to be widely installed, was just what he needed for the project.
“I remember when Modern came out and he said, ‘You have to see this new line. It’s fantastic. You can do really large windows, but it’s a thin profile.’ Everything an architect wants to hear,” Lewandowski recalled. “And of course my question was, ‘Oh, large windows, how large can they be?’ And when he told me the maximum size, I remember thinking, well I’m going to see if I can use the largest window that’s made in this line as a personal challenge.”
It was when Lewandowski first saw the setting for what would become the Notch House, he knew he’d found the place to complete his personal Biggest Windows Available Challenge. The parcel of land was an 11-acre plot in the White Mountains, facing some of the region’s most revered landmarks, including Cannon Mountain and its namesake ski area, Mt. Lafayette, and the famed Franconia Notch, the pass that bisects the two mountains (and the origin of the home’s nickname).
The homeowners had shared a desire to showcase the lot and the project’s ideal placement at the foot of the mountains, and that was very in sync with Lewandowski’s design and glass ambition. “It was clear that we needed to have large windows to capture this view,” said Lewandowski recalling the first day of seeing the lot, “and to be able to use three large windows [in the living room] that are almost 8-foot by 12-foot each is pretty spectacular and pretty stunning.”
For the homeowners, “[Modern windows] made all the difference in the world. It allowed us to get the floor to ceiling that we wanted.” And for Lewandowski? Challenge completed: “I guess we used the largest size that could be made.”
The focus on view-capturing glass doesn’t stop with the living room’s massive offerings. The main bedroom features wall-to-wall Ultimate Sliding doors, while the dining area boasts airy Modern Casement Push Out windows. And as a bonus, high above the living room, facing the front of the home, five wide, rectangular Modern Awning windows aid in air flow and offer even more natural light to the main living space.
Ready for the Weather
Modern Direct Glaze windows in Stone White, Ultimate Sliding French door
Now, putting all of these windows, including three almost-96-square-foot units, in a region known for its inhospitable weather? One would think it’d be cause for concern. Just hear Lewandowski describe what the build was up against:
“The weather is extreme and variable. Like much of New England, it’ll get relatively hot in the summer, and it gets really cold in the winter with a lot of snow,” he said.
Then there’s the wind. Mount Washington, one of the country’s windiest places, is about an hour away. “Because of the mountainous terrain, the wind will come over the mountain and we’ll sort of eddy on the other side. … You really have to consider that as well when you’re designing in this part of the country.”
But that is the beauty of Modern products and their high-density fiberglass construction. With the strength, durability, and condensation resistance, Lewandowski and LeGeyt had done their due diligence and were very confident in the choice.
“The high-density fiberglass is a really remarkable material. The stability, the non-conductive material, the weight-to-strength ratio … It’s perfect for the ‘Notch” project,” LeGeyt explained, “where large pieces of glass were requested … with minimal amount of material around the perimeter.”
“Modern windows made all the difference in the world. It allowed us to get the floor to ceiling that we wanted,” and “… we used the largest size that could be made.” – Homeowner
All in the Details
Ultimate Swinging French door, Modern Direct Glaze windows in Stone White
While the rear of the home is an absolute stunner, with its massive windows, pool, patio, and views, three eye-catching details begin the second you pull into the driveway.
The first is the home’s steel-paneled façade. Lewandowski has a textile design background, and it’s readily apparent in this signature element: ten 10-foot panels affixed to the front of the home, each plasma cut with a nod-to-nature pattern of pine boughs and tassels. This centerpiece marries industrial modern design with the natural world in a way that’s as simple as it is ingenious.
“I was thinking of something that we could do for the façade,” Lewandowski said. “[Something] that would be welcoming and a beacon, but private. The idea of a perforated metal panel, backlit, seemed like it would be really special. It would make the house unique, but also tied to nature.”
This tie-to-nature doesn’t stop there. Closer to the front door another detail emerges: a front entryway featuring authentic tree bark. Residential designer Andrew Treworgy, from Lewandowski’s team, explained that he’d first heard of the company, and its bark applications, via none other than a random marketing email. But the more they dug into the offering, the more intrigued the team became.
After receiving samples, Lewandowski presented this idea of a sort of bark welcome wall to the client, who greenlit the effort. The final installed product comes from North Carolina tulip trees (complete with its natural moss and lichen), steamed, flattened, preserved, and placed in large frame. What started as an easy-to-delete email ended up being one of Treworgy’s favorite details of the house.
“It’s very welcoming and very tactile,” he said. “I think it’s a really cool detail that was just kind of magic.”
Horizon Line Design
Speaking of magic, there’s a design element to the home that takes its ties to the natural world to a maximalist end: Stand far enough back on the driveway and look closely. Off in the distance, you’ll see the ridgeline of Mt. Lafayette. Follow it to the right, and there’s the dip down for the Franconia Notch. Then the horizon line rises back up for the outline of Cannon Mountain. Now, the design magic: Scan the same left-to-right profile for the roofline of the house. Taller section, lower section, back to a taller piece and you’ll see the very intentional ode to the mountain range and its topography.
“For me, that’s something that’s maybe a little esoteric, but when you drive onto the site and you see the mountains and you see the house, there’s really a play between that organic line and the modern line,” Lewandowski explained. “And those two coming together is one of these great subtle features of the house and gave it its name: the ‘Notch House.’”
CASE STUDY VIDEO - Notch House
Step inside as cabin-like design cues come to life in a thoroughly modern home in the heart of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. See how the “Notch House” strives to both mimic it’s natural surroundings and stand out with its modular build and large, view-highlighting Marvin Modern windows and doors.
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