The goal of the Highway House was to create a quiet, nature filled oasis at the bustling intersection of a highway and a busy county road. To make this possible, the house was given a 'C' shape with its longest facade (perhaps counter-intuitively) placed as close as possible to the highway. This allows the house to act as a sound wall, casting an “acoustic shadow” across a large inner courtyard with a pool, outdoor dining spaces and a sprawling lawn surrounded by evergreens.
The courtyard's interior facades open up with large expanses of triple-glazed windows providing visual connections to nature and thermal comfort year-round. Large horizontal overhangs provide shade in the summer and allow for passive heating in the winter.
The home's entry procession guides guests from a driveway parking area to a concrete stepping stone walk. The walk leads you through a portal in an architectural concrete wall and down a wide set of stairs to a door custom-finished in an automotive metallic blue. The concrete wall continues through the home from front to back, with cut-out portals revealing the home's most important spaces.
While the Highway House's structure mitigates the sound of traffic, the unique proximity of the highway is celebrated from the inside. Forty feet of linear windows capture the “art” of an ever-changing panorama of cars and lights.