Showcasing the aesthetic influence of rural French architecture, this house utilizes first floor living in an open and elegant manner.  One of the challenges was starting with an entirely open, treeless site. Our approach was to create, on a small footprint, a series of intimate, nicely proportioned exterior spaces which made up for the immature landscape and openness of the site. By tucking and pulling the house closer to a tree line, we were able to define the proportion and scale of the front entrance court. To create an aged exterior the stucco has been combined with natural aggregates, hand applied and sandblasted.  Bands of brick and wood in various locations have been added to create subtle contrasts of color and texture.