The house is sited on a hill overlooking a Caribbean bay in one direction and the island of Mustique in the other. The design follows the slope of the land, with a series of levels separating the guest bedrooms and side entrance at the top of the hill from the living and dining areas with the main entrance, terraces and pool in the middle. Further level changes separate these spaces from the master bedroom suite and a flight of steps leads down to terraced gardens.

Volumetrically the house is L-shped with a main rectangular mass containing the living spaces and guest wing and a smaller square mass containing the master bedroom suite. The garden stairs separate these two volumes and descend between them.

The guest wing and master bedroom suite are treated as solid ends to an open center. This open center, which is occupied by the living and dining areas, allows views through the house and permits it to be opened up horizontally to the terraces and pool in the manner of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian houses. The sunken sitting room, the master bedroom, and master bathroom shower articulate diagonal views of the bay and of Mustique with corner openings that are windowless but can be closed with wooden shutters.

The house is built of concrete with a wood framed metal roof. Counters, cabinet tops, sinks and details throughout are of cast-in-place concrete. The roof framing is exposed in various areas to become trellises and sun screens, while rain water is collected from the long sloping roofs and stored in basement cisterns.

The solid ends take on the geometry of antique Caribbean forts with their glassless openings and monumental massing. These ends contrast with the expansive center, evocative of verandas, widows’ walks and other forms that speak the ancient language of observation and the sea.