In 2007 a Manhattan-based media executive and artist couple purchased a 240-acre (97 hectare) plot in New York’s Hudson Valley and asked Toshiko Mori to design a weekend retreat on the land. After studying glass houses including Mies van der Rohe’s 1951 Farnsworth House, Illinois and Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut, they decided to configure the Ghent house as a series of pavilions, programmed to serve divergent needs, while providing the proportions and intimacy appropriate to the occupancy of each.

Front collaborated with the design team to insure structural, mechanical, and envelope systems were fully integrated and elements aligned and concealed to the extent possible. We then brought in a specialist subcontractor to provide fabrication and installation of the unitary glass and aluminum facade systems. These are calibrated to perform in the extremes of local climatic conditions, whilst opening up the interior spaces to high levels of natural light and unobstructed views over the Hudson Valley, and maintaining privacy between volumes for the owners and their guests.