Kagy Garden House

Elements
There were three key elements that guided the overall form language of the project: (i) the Anti-Dormer; (ii) the Breezeway; and (iii) the Courtyard.

The Anti-Dormer
Dormers and roof segments have become ubiquitous components of the contemporary mansion – in Bozeman as much as in many other places across the country: vernacular homes as well as older farmhouses with mostly a simple roofline and maybe a few dormers have given way to large mansions with complex, nested roofs and a hard-to-count number of dormers. One of the questions was how a return to a simple roofline without dormers would accommodate a modern home.

The Breezeway
Breezeways create space, air and light between residential homes and their garages or other adjunct buildings. We attempted to bring the breezeway into the house: the long, narrow main volume is pierced through in the middle, creating large, equal-sized apertures on both the south and north facades. This creates a light-flooded open room but also views across the house showing the inhabitants’ openness and the open natural landscape to the north of the house.

The Courtyard
The location and characteristics of the site allowed for a full southern exposure of the home with views of Mount Blackmore at the expense of facing a busy street. Throughout the design process, various approaches to creating a courtyard were considered, ultimately resulting in a minimalist courtyard created with the help of an entrance wall/woodshed and a large concrete planter encircling the inviting, south facing deck.