Contemporary Estate - A residential compound built into a sloped Georgia site — architecture that reveals itself floor by floor.
The brief was for a full-amenity compound rather than a primary residence with extras. A three-storey main house, a guest house, a pool house, and a garage with an additional floor above — all conceived as a single project, organised around a shared backyard that would function as the social heart of the site.
The central design problem was the terrain. Rather than levelling the sloped Georgia site, the main house is built into the hillside. The entrance sits at the upper level, and the building opens progressively to the landscape as it descends — each floor carrying a distinct programme and a different relationship to the exterior. The section, not the plan, does the primary architectural work.
The result is a compound that reads as a single design gesture across multiple buildings, and a main house that reveals itself floor by floor. The landscape is not the backdrop to the project. It is the material the project is built from.
Location Lawrenceville, Georgia, United States
Typology: Residential new build
Programme: Main house (3 storeys), guest house, pool house, garage with additional floor
Services: Architectural construction drawings
Built area: approx 8500 sq.ft./800 sq.m.
Status: Construction drawings complete
The ground floor is the social core of the house — living room, kitchen, office, and gym arranged as a sequence of spaces that open directly onto the backyard. The connection to the exterior is immediate: large glazed surfaces run the length of the rear façade, and the floor plane continues out to the terrace, pool, and guest house beyond. A fireplace anchors the centre of the backyard, flanked by an outdoor kitchen. The pool is covered; the terrace wraps around it.
The entrance level. The front door opens into a large double-height space overlooking the floor below, with direct sightlines to the backyard. The private programme — three bedrooms and the master suite — occupies the remainder of the floor, set back from the double-height volume and away from the social spaces below.
A lounge dedicated to visitors, with a wrap-around terrace that captures views across the site and the surrounding landscape. The floor sits above the private sleeping quarters and operates independently — accessible without passing through the bedroom level.
The guest house is a self-contained one-bedroom unit, designed as an extension of the main house language — single-slope roof, timber facade, and large glazing — rather than a secondary object. The pool house and garage follow the same material and formal logic, unifying the compound without making the ancillary structures deferential.
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