Shenandoah National Park unfurls before a property in Flint Hill, Virginia, like a perfect summer postcard. Wildflowers blanket the foreground, with the foothills draped in swaying grasses beyond. Mountain peaks paint the horizon.

This luminous vista enthralled a DC lawyer who, after years of visiting the region, decided to purchase property there. “My real estate agent took me up the driveway and I saw this,” she recalls from her screened porch, gesturing to the panorama. “I said yes immediately. There’s a lot of available land around here but a view like this is not common.”

The 65-acre parcel already had a house on it, but it was poorly situated and uninspiring. After some trepidation, the owner decided to tear it down and build a new home. She began by enlisting the right team for the project: architect Amy Gardner to mastermind a sustainable, modern home on the exact ridge where the owner first stood, and landscape architect Gregg Bleam to tame the surrounding terrain. “I didn’t want a ‘look at me’ modern house; I wanted it to seem like it’s supposed to be there, and to have seamless access to the outdoors,” she recounts. She also envisioned the property as a diverse native grassland that would evolve over time to support pollinators and other wildlife.

Gardner and Bleam conceived a master plan for a southwest-facing structure that truly embraces its location. “When siting a house, you are always looking for a way to make it fit the land,” Bleam observes. “Here, we had existing topography to tie into.”

Gardner adds, “The house is positioned along a ridge with interior and exterior spaces embracing views, sunlight, prevailing winds and natural features.”

Adhering to the owner’s modest vision for the home, the low-slung design “is right-sized for the client,” she says. “It borrows from local farm outbuildings, with utilitarian, open-sided rectangular forms and mono-pitched shed roofs. Connections between interior and exterior spaces allow easy movement and continuous engagement with the site.”

The 3,500-square-foot dwelling comprises two volumes with a glass connector between public and private wings that doubles as the front foyer, so that visitors see through to the mountains on entry. A single-story volume to the right houses a great room containing the kitchen and living/dining area, bordered on the back by a wall of glass sliding doors; a mudroom, pantry and powder room are tucked behind the great room on the opposite side. Angled to the left, a two-story volume contains a TV room and primary bedroom on the first floor with two more bedrooms above. A finished basement features a rec room.

With indoor-outdoor connectivity in mind, Gardner conceived a spacious screened porch off the kitchen that flows out to the side yard. Outside the slider wall, a deep-roofed overhang spans the length of the great room, providing shelter in summer while allowing the benefit of winter sun. Motorized shades are incorporated into the structure for additional protection and privacy.

Gardner collaborated with her client on the interiors, which boast an understated palette intended to channel attention to the view. White oak floors in the hyphen and sleeping wing are complemented by rift-cut oak thresholds between rooms. In the great room, a pale-gray, porcelain-tile floor allows a white oak-paneled ceiling to pop. In the sleek kitchen orchestrated by Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, white oak cabinetry is topped with Silestone counters. Many of the home’s clean-lined furnishings were repurposed from the owner’s previous residence.

Sustainability was a driving force for the project. “We made a very responsible house with low energy demand,” Gardner notes. The team implemented passive and active systems including natural and balanced mechanical ventilation; passive winter solar gain; a high-performance building envelope; a photovoltaic system channeling energy from the sun; and Dark Sky practices that eschew excessive outdoor lighting.

While plans for the house took shape, Bleam tackled the challenge of grading the property to accommodate the client’s exterior program, which centered on a lap pool, bocce court and gardens. “There were lots of slopes and not one stitch of flat ground when we started,” he remembers. “We needed to create a flat area that would look like it was part of the landscape.”

Just off the screened porch, concrete retaining walls support a patio of precast pavers separated by grass joints; this surface surrounds a gunite pool rimmed with precast-concrete coping. A bosk of London plane trees flanks the adjacent bocce court. In front of the house, a carport/garden shed serves as a gateway between the gravel parking court and the grassy front yard. A deer-fenced area beside the structure contains raised vegetable and flower beds. Native trees and shrubs such as black gum, oak and fothergilla dot the landscape.

Today, the client’s plan for conserving and restoring her property’s habitat is a work in progress. J.W. Townsend Landscapes eradicated invasive species from a four-acre swath of land that slopes down from the back of the house; it’s now a meadow planted with wildflowers. The slope bottoms out at a spring-fed pond that pumps water to irrigate the landscape. Future plans include converting the remaining open fields into native grasslands.

In the meantime, her home in the mountains has indeed put its owner in touch with nature as she learns to manage her acreage. “It’s a lot of work,” she says, “but it is magical.”

Architecture: Amy Gardner, FAIA, LEED AP; Brittany Williams, AIA, LEED AP, Gardner Architects, LLC, Silver Spring, Maryland. Kitchen Design: Jennifer Gilmer, CKD; Meghan Browne, Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, Chevy Chase, Maryland. Builder: Willoughby Construction and Consulting, LLC, Hagerstown, Maryland. Landscape Architecture: Gregg Bleam, FASLA, Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect, PLC, Charlottesville, Virginia. Landscape Contractor: J.W. Townsend Landscapes, Charlottesville, Virginia.

RESOURCES

THROUGHOUT
Cabinetry: hesscustomkitchenandbath.com; mstymdws.com. Windows & Doors: loewen.com through thesanderscompany.com. Siding: jameshardie.com.

KITCHEN
Cabinetry: artcraftkitchens.com through gilmerkitchens.com. Countertops & Backsplash: cosentino.com. Range & Ovens: thermador.com. Refrigerator: subzero-wolf.com. Pendant Lighting: foscarini.com through illuminc.com. Tile: porcelanosa.com. Plumbing Fixtures: kohler.com; creategoodsinks.com; duravit.us; nameeks.com; houseofrohl.com.