This project creates a multi generational family retreat beside Howard Falls in Northwestern Pennsylvania. It preserves most of the existing cottage while adding a grounded communal extension at the shoreline. It forms a clear vertical and material distinction between quiet private life above and social communal life below.

Keep the recognizable roof form of the old cottage as a memory anchor. Hollow the entrance level into a permeable porch and carport that acts as a threshold. Slide a new linear hallway axis through to a rear viewing platform. Tuck refined private rooms under the retained eaves. Grow a new sandstone plinth below that holds communal rooms opening to meadow, decks, and water. Cap the extension with a pitched green roof that visually settles into the landscape. Express contrast: light and quiet above, textured and social below.

Retained original roof silhouette.

Open through hall from front arrival to rear viewing platform.

Clear sectional separation of private and communal domains.

Bedrooms with individual sheltered outdoor porches.

Large dining and living spaces each sized for twenty people.

Flexible recreation room for varied family uses.

Dual decks including one with a direct framed view of the falls.

Sandstone base that anchors the extension to geology.

Pitched green roof for habitat, stormwater delay, and thermal buffering.

Elevator and stair void ensuring accessibility and visual continuity.

High permeability at entrance level for ventilation and transparency.