On a steep, wooded site in western North Carolina, architects Emma Fuller and Michael Overby clustered eight pavilions to form a house that wraps around a central patio and reaches out to views of Lake James and the Appalachian Mountains beyond. Designed for Overby’s parents, who moved back to North Carolina after retiring from busy careers in Florida and then Seattle, the modestly sized house—just 2,750 square feet—uses the hillside to protect itself from temperature fluctuations and reduce its energy consumption. The architects met at Cooper Union’s School of Architecture, then worked for different firms—Fuller for Diane Lewis and Overby for Reiser+Umemoto—before establishing their own practice in New York in 2019. So far, their firm has worked mostly on residential projects and galleries, including a small design studio on an alley in Richmond, Virginia, where Fuller comes from.

Windows are carefully placed to frame views of the lake and woods. Photo © Paul Warchol, click to enlarge.