Perch House

With great challenge comes great opportunity. For Perch House, the challenge was the steeply sloped site. The payoff is a striking home of bold forms that shroud deceptively light living spaces.

This new 2,200 SF home in suburban Upper St. Clair blends bold design with functional family living. Given the sharp grade, the design team looked to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater for inspiration. The blocky massing is a nod to Legos and it creates the clean, overlapping volumes the owner desired.

Inside there are three bedrooms, two-and-a-half-baths, an office, and two-car garage. The open plan kitchen/living area fronts a wall of windows overlooking the hill and bathing the interiors in natural light. A covered patio on the back side of the home is nestled into the hill and provides a private outdoor space and yard without the need for perimeter fencing.

The layout is designed to flow with the slope. The lower level connects to the driveway and houses the entrance, office, and garage. On the middle level, the common areas and patio create seamless indoor-outdoor connections. The top floor is reserved for private living spaces, with three bedrooms and two baths.

Construction began during the pandemic and there were immediate materials and labor delays. Though the steep slope was the most significant obstacle, influencing every phase of the project. From the logistics of construction deliveries to stormwater management and landscape design, each aspect demanded a slow, methodical approach and extensive coordination between design and construction.

Cantilevering out over the hillside, the home creates a striking visual with its contrasting dark façade resting on a light concrete foundation. This integration required both innovation and precise engineering. The house sits on an exposed CMU foundation using innovative wood-framing techniques to deliver on both the clean aesthetic and structural integrity. Dark, large format (and fade-resistant) fiber cement panels on the exterior provide the drama and clearly delineate the spaces inside.

The client’s design savvy added another layer of refinement, blending their vision with the design team’s expertise to produce a truly distinctive home.