POND HOLLOW LODGE
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POND HOLLOW LODGE

Nestled in the center of a rolling Litchfield County farm, the Lodge replaces an outdoorsman’s dilapidated cabin.  Despite its irreparable condition, the old cabin was central to defining the character and spirit of the place, and maintaining its essence became the program priority for the new lodge.

For family retreats and recreation, the lodge encloses an attic bunk room, small bedroom, kitchen and living room.  Of equal importance are the covered porch, sleeping porch and dining terrace with fireplace.  A front door faces the vineyard across a farm lane.  Opposite, porches and expansive windows maximize exposure to the pond and valley beyond.  Porches with “tree” columns soften the transition from building to landscape.

Forms are derived from the rural, agricultural landscape.  Materials such as fieldstone, Mine Hill granite, brainstorm siding, hemlock and eastern cedar timbers are gathered from the site or its immediate surroundings.  Interior finishes are predominantly clear-finished woodwork, all reclaimed local materials such as chestnut floors, pine and hemlock walls, and limed oak doors and cabinets.

The heating-only system utilizes a high-efficiency propane-fired boiler with cast-iron baseboard radiation.  Necessitated by the super-insulated perimeter, a modest air system provides fresh air and make-up air for the fireplace.

To insure the health of the pond and other proximate inland wetlands, conservation measures were essential to the project.  They included: installation of subsurface recharge for roof water; designation of wetland buffer areas; construction of a protected, vegetated drainage basin; installation of native plantings, and ongoing remediation of the invasive species Phragmites australis.

NEW PRESTON, CT

Project Team

DiSalvo Engineering Group – structural
Kohler Ronan LLC – mechanical
Northern Lights Construction LLC
Cummin Associates – landscape
Ellen Hamilton Design – furnishings

Recognition

CTC&G Innovation in Design Awards 2015
    Architecture IDA Winner
AIA Connecticut Design Awards – Honor Award

Photography

Philip Ennis Photography