RIGHT AND BELOW:
The property is dotted
with vertical elements
that jut skyward like
stalagmites. “The building
grows up out of the rock,”
says Jay Gort, and the
living space, including
eight bedrooms in total,
“is framed between
those pieces.”
The simple forms and mix of materials are typical
of Gort Scott’s work, which fits within a certain brand
of English modernism that favours masonry, wood
and careful urbanism. The firm has built mostly in Britain;
Scott has worked at Adjaye Associates and for
MVRDV, while Gort taught for seven years at Cambridge
University, where the professional partners met.
At The Rock, the architects employed large-scale
physical models of the house in order to perfect the
materiality, the proportions and the play of light and
shadow. Seen in photographs, the models are incred-
ibly close to the final project. Above all, “scale was
incredibly important,” Scott says. “It was important
that the building didn’t crush the rock, that it had a
deference to the crest of the hill.”
And so it does. According to the client, the com-
plexity and subtlety of the architecture has shaped him
as much as the other way around. “Being connected
with this project,” he says, “has really introduced
me to sustainable building and to sustainability in a
broader sense.” He is now exploring new business
and philanthropic efforts related to that theme.
The Rock, he notes, “has connected me to the
world in a new way.” gortscott.comSEPT 2019_ _ 081