KM House

KM House is a robust expansion and renovation to a secluded estate in the heart of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The project, originally conceived as a simple retaining wall and rain garden to define an edge to an existing pool yard and to address persistent flooding from a steep hillside, developed into the future phasing of a pool house, guest house, and reimagined main house. Clad in Brazilian granite, Arkansas-sourced Cypress, and crisp white steel and stucco, the blend of bold, organic materials assemble in a playful balance of forms around a central pool courtyard. The architecture frames, connects, and celebrates the Ozark hillside with the play of light between manmade elements and the natural landscape.

A white steel trellis structure and raised Cypress walkway connect all the new structures to the existing house. The thin columns, panels and plate steel canopy provide a juxtaposition to the ribbon of black granite that weaves the pool house to the guest house along the southern edge of the pool courtyard. The trellis contains white perforated aluminum panels that obscure the private and public spaces, complimenting the connection between the existing house and the guest house.

The traditional form of the main house is wrapped in the same Arkansas-sourced cypress rainscreen as the new floating, boxy forms of the guest house. Visually the two masses work together with the granite and trellis elements to push and pull on the courtyard while the new forms carve and frame exterior spaces at the ground and upper levels.

The unique opportunity to use granite as a primary material allowed a combined Ozark-based sensibility with Mies-influenced architecture in the pool house. Light, crisp materiality, and phenomenal transparency work together to formalize the connection to the new granite-clad pool and spa as well as create a dialogue with the existing home and new guest house.

The overall order and organization of the new structures and elements transitioned the mundane 1970’s home into a cohesive and articulated estate, carving out a small piece of venerated ground from the Ozark hillside in Fayetteville.