As though he were blending a new music genre, articulate young architect Andrew Willett conjures up a quirky name to describe the look of one of his signature dwellings: “Jappalachian.”
The owners, a private, semi-retired couple from northern Virginia near D.C., were strongly taken with the secluded ten-acre tract, in large part because their newly married daughter lived next door.
“The property was so beautiful that we put an offer in and hoped it would be a perfect place to hold family vacations,” says the lady of the household. But the allure proved more lasting. Within a year-and-a-half, husband and wife had set down new roots in North Carolina.
“A simple cabin with a few modern conveniences can make a fine vacation house,” she comments. “But to live there permanently, we needed to update our home. Andrew Willet listened very carefully to our needs and desires and helped to bring a shared vision to fruition.”
“The feeling this piece of land created was a drastic change from where they lived before,” puts in Willett. “Inside, you feel you’re being cradled by this cove. It just spoke to them.”
The cabin squatting on their parcel of paradise was solid enough, with decent “bones.” Constructed in the 1970s, however, it was well past any era of historic significance. Willett transformed its frankly charmless exterior with stucco, cedar and stack stone.
Inside, light was low and dimensions were tight — about what you’d expect from the time period, says the architect. Today, the home’s 3,000 square feet — up from 1,800 — is sleekly modern without a touch of harsh. Asian detailing dovetails with a minimalist approach: Shoji-screen-style front doors make a strong overture, and throughout the house, a litter of subtle curves add substance.
“There’s an Eastern influence in the forms and lines, coupled with local materials and textures. These sophisticated spaces are sharp and soft simultaneously,” Willett explains.
Recessed lighting from Asheville company Audio Incorporated — Willett chose narrow four-inch bulb cans instead of the more common six-inch variety — accents the couple’s paintings and sculpture, culled both from global excursions and from right around the corner.
“We love to travel in Asia, so we have art from Burma, China, Bali, Vietnam, India, and Japan,” says the owner. “One of our favorite paintings is a Vietnamese work of contemplative Buddhist monks set on a stark yellow background.”
However, a newer piece, she reveals, “is a large ceramic sculpture from Asheville artist Cassie Ryalls, which depicts two figures bound together in time.”
To a degree, that description fits the collaboration between the couple and the architect who made their dream home come true. “Andrew felt, and we agreed, that our modern aesthetic would be well served by using modern materials throughout the home.”
Indeed, aspects of the interior itself are progressive work of art. Willett designed the nautilus-shaped kitchen island according to his own invention. “It’s a pretty neat piece,” he allows. The dimensions are complex — Fibonacci with a detour: “I had to alter the ratio a little bit to get it to do what it needed to do.”
He says he prefers to use materials “that we all have a positive relationship with.” It’s about creating a room that embraces the user, “not a space where you feel sterilized through architecture, just a bystander.”
A grid of decorative woodwork, inlaid trim in various hues — these refinements, says Willett, “add delicate pieces of information.” Other additions required significant visionary muscle.
“We spread out in multiple directions, like spokes off the hub of a bicycle wheel,” muses Willett. The front approach of the house was flipped for access that Willett describes as “more graceful,” bringing vehicles to within three steps away from the entry instead of the former full storey below. New wings encompass a foyer, sitting room, office, master bath, an enlarged kitchen and a powder room. A covered “outdoor room” boasts a mosaic-tiled Jacuzzi visually warmed by wee fiber-optic lamps — “a little kiss of light,” offers Willett.
The floors are five-inch white oak, and for the warm, cheerful cabinetry, Forest Millwork harvested walnut and sycamore right from the property. A rare butternut tree found on the place provided the signature wainscoting in the powder room. And Mandala’s lagoons of dark, polished concrete — distinguishing the fireplace surround, the master-suite soaking tub (co-designed by the man of the house), and the majority of bathroom and kitchen surfaces — are the whistle-worthy highlights.
As for appointments, the couple didn’t need to clutter their highly cultivated aesthetic with outside help. Being former protégées of Coco Fitzgerald, a now-87-year-old New England designer, they’ve long known what they were doing. The sofa they picked, for example, is a sculptural Vladimir Kagan piece.
Still, they also realized that, in certain situations, it’s good to retain a little rusticity. “We have incorporated antique Chinese pieces with modern and comfortable leather ones — it’s furniture that will withstand active grandchildren and pets.”