A hillside house in Arkansas by SILO AR+D is a metal-clad statement
![The Hillside Rock House](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sbhWFBHayCET844UBdzCG-415-80.jpg)
This house in Arkansas takes a determined stance against camouflaged contextualism and goes straight for bold, unapologetic contrast. Designed by SILO Architecture Research and Design, the modestly budgeted and relatively compact 1,750 sq ft family home exploits a verdant sloped three-quarter-acre site.
Clever use of material and form make a strong architectural statement that transcends the budget and makes the most of the views and landscape. The architects describe Hillside Rock House as being ‘mineral-like,’ as if it were a natural growth that has emerged from the landscape. This juxtaposition is emphasised by the graphic purity of the wraparound façade, which also contains several allusions to modern architecture of the recent past, from Adolf Loos to Venturi Scott-Brown. Solidity is emphasised by the uniform application of white corrugated metal cladding.
The entry light well.
The site is located east of Fayetteville, out past the suburbs where development starts to rub up against true wilderness. This is a quintessentially American condition, is enhanced by far-reaching views across the wooded site in the city’s Mount Sequoyah neighbourhood.
Inside, living accommodation is pushed to the corners away from a central spine of circulation space, ensuring that the principal living rooms and bedrooms have dual aspect views and balconies that are carefully orientated to look across specific swathes of landscape; each of the three terraces has a very different aspect, including an impressive view of the Boston Mountains to the south. This multi-faceted outlook created by the plan is also a reference to the façade geometry and the house’s rocky, mineral qualities.
View from the upper landing.
The interior is arranged across central levels around a central wooden staircase, supplemented by internal galleries and ladders. There is a strong sense of being up in the trees here and the house gets a correspondingly bold seasonal display as the autumn colours seep into the interior. White walls are paired with concrete and timber floors, the latter treated as if it is a solid, monolithic block.
SILO AR+D was set up by Marc Manack and Frank Jacobus and currently concentrates its work in and around Ohio, North Carolina, and Arkansas. Manack and Jacobus have a focus on residential and institutional projects and describe their work as ‘an abstract departure from the organic romanticism’ of so much contemporary regional architecture. The Hillside Rock House celebrates its abstract form without being disconnected from its bucolic surroundings.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the SILO AR+D website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
IM Pei's Everson Museum of Art gets a modern makeover
The East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY has been given a contemporary refresh by emerging Los Angeles studio MILLIØNS
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Black Modernism’s lesser-known, at-risk architecture gems gain a lifeline
Conserving Black Modernism announces vital funding to save and preserve overlooked and endangered buildings by African American architects and designers
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Step into the Blanton Museum of Art's reimagined public realm by Snøhetta in Austin
Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas is completed and reveals its reimagined public realm and plaza designed by Snøhetta
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This New York Townhouse renovation is a lesson in contemporary minimalism
TenBerke’s carefully considered New York townhouse is the reimagining of a century-old Manhattan structure that reframes vertical living
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit The Frost House, a lesser-known modernist architecture marvel in Michigan City
The Frost House is a lesser-known midcentury architecture gem in Michigan City, Indiana; we took the tour as the property goes on the market
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
Broadway designer Scott Pask’s Arizona retreat is a scene-stealing discovery
Scott Pask invites us inside his Arizona retreat, nestled in the foothills overlooking Tucson – a place to reboot, recharge and commune with nature
By Michael Webb Published
-
Upstate New York retreat Ridge House evokes land art
Ridge House in upstate New York, the work of Brooklyn-based studio Worrell Yeung, is at one with the surrounding countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Rafael de Cárdenas’ first ground-up project is a forever home with waterfront views and hidden treasures
Rafael de Cárdenas reveals his latest completed project in the Pacific Northwest, a family home of calming spaces that bleed the outside in, and ten years in the making
By Ellie Stathaki Published