Westchester House

The hill on which this house stands offers a wide variety of views and a countryside interlaced with stone walls. The Westchester House stands out imposingly as an almost magical building set against exuberant vegetation and the blue of the sky. The house is almost completely white, the favorite color of the architect, Richard Meier, as it enhances the perception of the colors that exist in natural light and in nature itself. The play between light and shade and mass and volume can be fully appreciated, thanks to the contrast with the white surface.

This house does not face in one direction alone. Far from being located frontally, the facade consists of two rectangular units, one set back from the other in an east-west direction alongside a hallway that is accessed via a staircase parallel to the same line.

The brilliant white of the building is not only based on the traditional idea of a house, but also provides a strong extrovert character that goes far beyond the simple function of a refuge, without detracting from the location of the home. The house is a structure that acts like a prism set in the natural countryside around it.

The design is simple and pure. Meier, thought of as the Palladio of the 20th century, has used a classic design combined with touches of modernism on the walls. The house, garage, and pool are located just below the highest point and are arranged around the east-west line that splits the house and at the same time acts as a dividing wall.