Bent Trail // Marc McCollom Architect

This 1970’s modern home went under a complete interior renovation of all 7,500 square feet. The primary design task was to organize the interior plan and clarify the relationship between spaces, seemingly a rambling conglomeration of rooms that went on and on without any guiding principles.

The architect’s approach balanced two contradictory strategies. First, removing a few small rooms created a continuous view from one end of the house to almost the other, creating a generous, light-filled space in what had been a warren of separate rooms. In contrast, the middle of the house was too connected, with only some dangerous steps between the two living rooms. It needed a physical separation that also kept the visual connection intact.

A large stone box became the inspiration. Conceived as a continuous surface, a seamless top cascades to join the ends. Its sides intentionally display the planar nature of the material, with joints that show the individual slabs and reveal their thinness. Two similar boxes, each coordinated with a plaster fireplace wall, tie the three middle rooms together while clearly defining their separate identities.