Bridging indoor and outdoor spaces and private and common zones, up-and-coming firm Höweler + Yoon creates a multi-generational home in Virginia with maximum appeal.

When the clients specified that their new home in Maclean, Virginia, would need to accommodate three generations, Höweler + Yoon – the innovative Boston firm headed by Eric Höweler and J. Meejin Yoon – honed its approach. The couple who hired the firm required space for themselves, and two additional master suites for their children (one for their daughter, and another for their son and daughter-in-law) and two smaller suites for their two grandchildren. The design for Bridge House, then, became focused not only on maximizing views out to the expansive backyard, but also on optimizing indoor and outdoor spaces to balance family time and alone time for the home’s inhabitants.

In three distinct volumes – clad in anodized bronze aluminum “shingles” – the architects were able to segregate activity zones from private areas. The former are primarily located on the main floor’s larger volume, at the opposite end from the owners’ master suite in the smaller volume. Outdoor living space on this level is generous, with an expansive entryway patio and rear deck acting as bookends for a glass-enclosed indoor seating area. From the glass-walled entry, this configuration reveals a view of the ravine even before one enters the home – a hint at the vistas which pleasantly dominate most of the rooms.

The upper-level “bridge,” which extends atop the main level’s two sides, contains four bedrooms and three bathrooms for the extended family. Here, a private master deck and a shared deck for the children’s rooms face onto the backyard ravine, but the top floor’s set-back design prevents any overhang from obscuring the ground-floor views. Because the home is situated on a slope, the basement media room also features large windows to take full advantage of the pristine setting.