The design evolved from the owner's two major concerns, plus the steeply sloping land and the many rough rock outcroppings present on the site.
To accommodate the program requirements and the physical character of the site, a glass pavilion design was employed for the living room space which was attached to a clapboard enclosure that housed the entry, kitchen and dining area on the first level and bedrooms and baths on the second level.  Stone, quarried from the site, was employed to enclose the basement level which contains a family room below the pavilion and a maid's suite and mechanical/storage rooms beneath the clapboard portion of the structure.
The design took advantage of the two directional slope of the land by nesting the clapboard portion of the structure into the hill and creating outdoor terraces on the high side of the house with direct access from the bedroom level and creating a high stone base on which to rest the pavilion, thereby giving the owners the illusion of being in the forest tree tops when inside the glass pavilion.