Radiant Home: Kahn's Luminary Influence

Mr. Kahn, in philosophising about light, said “what is marvelous about a room is that the light through the window of that room belongs to the room. And the sun somehow doesn’t realize how wonderful it is until after a room is made. So, somehow, man’s creation, the making of the room, is nothing short of a miracle… to think that man can claim a slice of the sun.”

The natural light in the home, varying throughout the day, is always exciting, and on occasion elevated to that of a religious experience. When shafts of light pierce the invaginated windows, it gives one the feeling of being in a cathedral.

When Mr. Kahn visited the home a few years after completion, the owner asked him how he began our house. He said “it’s really structure. When I put down the places where the rooms were constructed, I was thinking about the light. I wasn’t thinking of beams or studs. I was thinking about what there is about the structure that will give you light.”

The home is designed as two cubes, primarily of wood, with a stone base. The cubes articulate at a 45-degree angle. The north cube is the “living cube” and has a living room, dining room, and kitchen. It has 18-foot-high ceilings. The south cube, or the “sleeping cube,” has four bedrooms, two baths, with a powder room on the first floor. A very functional basement underlies both cubes.We chose cypress for its resilience to weather and beautiful color.

The stone was beige and gray straight-ended pieces from the local Montgomeryville quarry. A prominent feature in this house is the handsome fireplace and chimney dividing the living room and the dining room. It forms a massive hemi-cylinder, the flat side with the hearth facing the living room. His drawings are so complete that almost all of the stones are drawn, to illustrate size, shape, and positioning. We requested that the mason fit and rout between the stones to give the impression of a drywall. It is a handsome piece of masonry and perhaps, along with his window seat area, the centerpiece of the house.