CUSTOM CONSERVATORY BY THE LAKE

T his grand custom conservatory, located on a large lakeside estate, merges effortlessly with the original structure. The standing seam copper roof supports a glass cupola that washes the room with daylight. Custom-designed eave brackets that reinterpret those of the main house are artistically decorated.

An immense room over 1,000 square feet in size and some twenty-four feet tall, the conservatory design appears appropriate in scale because of the skillful way its size is broken into smaller elements while at the same time respecting the scale of the whole.

On the interior, the room was divided into a foyer and a main living space with the two areas separated by interior columns and a change in the roof/ceiling design. The complex geometry of the roof helps de-emphasize the room's boxy shape.

The foundation for this custom conservatory room was already in place prior to the start of the design work and the owners were concerned that this would limit Tanglewood's creative ability. To enhance the indoor- outdoor character of the room, a matching gazebo was designed and built to sit on the opposite bank of the lake.

Facing the lakeside conservatory, the matching gazebo is used to draw one's attention from inside the room out into

the surrounding landscape. The forms of the two structures are sculpturally related through their geometry. The custom conservatory design included a rectangular building with an octagonal cupola whereas the gazebo is an octagonal structure with a square cupola.

The homeowners were very concerned that with such a large amount of glass, the conservatory would be difficult to heat and cool. The solution to this challenge was to make the lower portion of the conservatory roof out of "solid" stress-skin panels instead of glass. The panels were clad with standing seam copper on the exterior and mahogany board on the interior. Stained glass panels featuring hand-painted images of local wildflowers adorn the transom windows.