LETH-EILEAN DHÈ

LOCATION: Mount Pleasant, SC

CLIENT: Private

AREA: 3,800 SF

STATUS: Permitting

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: South House Studio

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: K.M. Powell Engineering

DESCRIPTION: This project is a custom single-family residence on a 2-acre property in Mount Pleasant. The unique peninsular site has panoramic views of the marsh and is unsurprisingly subject to FEMA regulations, including the requirement to lift the house over the applicable flood level.

The owner’s fondness for the villages that animate the British countryside was the starting point for the design of the house. The massing is comprised of three rudimentary gabled structures that reference the general modesty of the unadorned country cottage. These structures were then raised above the flood level and oriented on the site based on programmatic distribution and the optimization of views. The shifting and rotation of these volumes is also a nod to the rambling, seemingly arbitrary organization that often characterizes historic rural estates that have been developed over long periods of time. The ultimate challenge, however, came with the mandate for a raised house to evoke a similar sense of solidity and permeance that rural houses often have, as the traditional “house on stilts” that is nearly ubiquitous in the Lowcountry is effectively the antithesis to this. Instead, heavy brick planes, reminiscent of ruins or ancient monuments, simultaneously elevate the three gabled volumes and ground the house solidly to the site. In keeping with the theme, the color palette of the home was limited to neutral earthy tones. Except for the gravel drive court - another reference to the British countryside - the native grasses and flowers are welcome to grow under the house as they please, further blurring the boundary between building and land.