New Hampshire Retreat, Peterborough, NH
This family compound is located on a wooded knoll overlooking open fields in current use and the hills across Peterborough in the distance. It has been designed to accommodate a young family's informal gatherings, while at the same time appropriately housing period furniture, portraits and a library handed down by the past generation. An open kitchen serves a large family room as well as an informal eating area open to a protected terrace. A formal dining room, study, and an upstairs sleeping porch for six provide continuity with the past. A barn anchors the opposite side of the Entry Yard and will frame a view of Mount Monadnock.

Family Compound, Lincoln, MA
This house, designed for a three-generation family, was shaped by our client's well articulated priorities: insure quiet and privacy; minimize its impact on the land; and make it appear simple. A one-story expression on the entry yard creates a welcoming scale and shapes a space for children to play in safely. Inside, a timber frame unifies a main living space in which two sitting areas, a dining alcove, a window seat for two, and a screened porch wrap around an open-plan kitchen.

Hill House, Lincoln, MA
A steep site dropping over thirty feet offered the opportunity to achieve a consolidated plan on four levels, including an in-house office and a potential accessory apartment beneath the garage. Coupled with a high-quality building envelope, this planning strategy would insure long-term energy efficiency, as well as construction efficiency. Regional, organic forms are coupled with modern fenestration and detailing intended to fully connect the inside spaces with the natural world.

Nubanusit Lake House, Hancock, NH
This house was required by zoning to occupy an existing building footprint on its narrow lakeside lot. Its three-story plan provides separated sleeping areas both above and below the main, heavy- timbered living space, while also optimizing the opportunity for energy efficiency over the long run. A secondary structure shelters a private outdoor space from the road and provides a private path of indirect access to the front door.

Insight Meditation Society, Barre, MA
OPA has been retained to provide a Master Plan for the IMS Campus involving residential expansion, renovations of an existing dining/kitchen area, and extensive site and landscape design. Phase I (pictured here) involves renovations of an existing dormitory with a new stair and bridge addition that will connect to a future new dormitory. Significant site re-grading achieves improved light quality to existing lower level dormitory rooms.

Red Top Cottage, Greenfield, NH
The site is a wonderful hilltop in southern New Hamphire with views of Mount Monadnock; the program a small house (under 2400 SF) that includes a freestanding Studio for an artist/owner. We are designing it as a tight compound to create a protected outdoor garden/entry that will be sheltered from the wind and welcoming to the inhabitants. The forms are regional; the detailing will be minimalist to provide an uncluttered backdrop for artwork and plain living.

Richmond Pond House, Westport, MA