Washington College Magazine
The House That Vicco Built
To say that Vicco von Voss '91 lives in a tree house isn't a stretch. How else to describe his house in the Eastern Shore woods that is as organic as nature itself? By Ellen Uzelac, photography by Celia Pearson
Vicco von Voss '91 communes with nature—and his building materials. The former art major discovered his love of wood in college, first bringing natural forms into functional existence as furniture.
The kitchen island—a slab of cherry—literally floats above the slate flooring. Von Voss notched the beam of red oak to support the ceiling joists.
In the spirit of an Amish barn raising, friends pitched in to help von Voss erect his timber-frame house in the woods.
photo: Vicco von Voss '91
Nearly five years in the making, the first pod of the house von Voss envisions is now finished.
As von Voss '91 puts it: "Our trees, their shapes and forms, are what inspire me. For me, everything begins with the tree. Really, all you have to do is open your eyes and reinterpret what you've been given." Von Voss, a Chestertown woodworker known for his elegant and graceful furniture creations, in 2002 cast his designer's eye on something new: a timber-frame house.
"It's how I build my furniture. It was easy for me," says von Voss, 39. "For me, this is nothing more than a big piece of furniture."
Certainly, the environmental philosophy that informs von Voss's furniture design is evident in the 1,200-square-foot house overlooking Island Creek, 12 miles outside of Chestertown.
Hundreds of trees were used in the house, only 33 of them cut. The rest were salvaged, meaning they'd been blown down or were already logged. "My philosophy, whether it's furniture or this house, is all about trees. Basically, I believe a tree is a spirit, a living being. I believe a tree is alive," says von Voss. "It's not my personal right to cut down a tree. If I do cut, it's important to mill it, to give it respect, to turn it into something that celebrates the beauty of the wood and gives the tree a second life."
In designing the house with architect and collaborator Tom Andrews '91, von Voss was driven by three influences. First, there's the primitive eight-by-twelve foot cabin he lived in for eight years. He had no electricity or running water yet von Voss says he thrived in the simple, harmonious lifestyle the cabin brought home to him. "The philosophy of the new dwelling had to encapsulate the feeling of the cabin," he says.
The German-born von Voss was also struck by Frank Lloyd Wright's sensibility for blending architecture with its surroundings. In particular, he was drawn to Wright's energyefficient passive solar hemicycle design— basically a semicircular or half-moon structure that directs occupants to the scenic view [in this case Island Creek] no matter where one is located in the house.
The third influence: the traditional Maryland barn. In order to bring the concept alive, von Voss built twin "silos" or glass chambers that filter light into the house and also play a role in the passive solar design.
In an early morning interview at his house last month, von Voss—eating yogurt and drinking tea—noted, "This house was like Pac Man. It gobbled up wood. There's just so much wood in here. The normal life expectancy of a tree is 60 to 80 years. This building will stand for 300 years. I'm giving the wood reverence."
Nestled in five wooded acres, the house incorporates design elements of European, Japanese and American timberframe homes. Von Voss has also used a medley of woods—aromatic red cedar, Eastern white pine, red oak, locust, cherry, cypress and sassafras, among others—for their unique characteristics and looks. He used locust for the sill plates and sassafras for the deck boards, for example, because they are rot resistant. There's not a single nail in the house, only wooden pegs and screws.
When he makes furniture, von Voss says he is careful to allow the wood to speak its history to him so that its shape and the flow of the grain reveal to him elements of the design.
And so it was with the design of the two-story house. Pointing enthusiastically to a summer beam, spanning 20 feet, in the kitchen, von Voss said: "There's a story about this tree." The magnificent red oak beam was a tree that once stood where the wood stove is. Today, it's one of two main supporting beams in the house.
"I believe it's very important to incorporate a tree from the landscape in order to bring the spirit of the land into the energy of the house. This is that tree," he adds. "It was a really strong tree."
Remarkably, von Voss found the beam's twin—a matching support beam—not far from his property after it was felled by Tropical Storm Isabel. "It was exactly 20 feet, one inch and a red oak," von Voss says. "It's representative of the entire magic involved in building this house."
Von Voss moved into the house last fall, after a four-and-a- half year construction effort that began with a timber-frame workshop, a storage barn for his wood and an on-site saw mill. The house was built largely by volunteers and a few paid laborers. Von Voss himself spent nine months working on the project fulltime, along with Will Phipps '95. Curt Millington '97 photographed much of the building process, including an Amish-style house-raising. [To view his slide show, visit www.viccovonvoss.com.] It was on the Pennsylvania land of another Washington College contemporary, Whit Maroney '91, that von Voss cut the 33 Eastern white pines used in the construction.
I believe it's very important to incorporate a tree from the landscape in order to bring the spirit of the land into the energy of the house.
The house contains design elements that are signature von Voss. One architectural detail, a curved beam made from swamp maple, is a blend of the masculine and feminine—characteristics of timber that show up in von Voss's furniture designs.
As he describes it: "With masculine timber, man takes the tree, controls the element and makes it square-sided, with hard lines. With the feminine, the sawyer cuts the face of it off and exposes the great beauty of the wood. It's the yin and the yang."
Downstairs are a kitchen and a living room—the richness of the woods offset by a lovely slate floor. Upstairs are the bedroom, bathroom/laundry and the space where von Voss practices hatha yoga for one and a half hours each morning. In this room and others are paintings by former Washington College art professor Susan Tessem, whose clean, linear lines have influenced von Voss's own.
Throughout the house, there is a sense of bringing the outdoors inside —and taking the indoors out. "When you look out the window, you see the timbers and then the trees," notes von Voss, who lives with two constant companions, German Shepherds Bella and Persimmon, as well as a cat, Shellac.
"The relationship between living nature and man-manipulated nature is very much a part of the design. Everything is supposed to blend in, nothing is supposed to stand out."
Every tree von Voss works with is milled on-site, and the waste is cut up for firewood that's burned in an outdoor furnace that supplies the house with hot water and radiant floor heat.
Summers, a solar panel on the roof provides domestic hot water. "I love the milling," he says. "It's the closest thing to being in nature itself. Opening up something that's been part of nature for 80 years, you never know what you'll find. Some trees will surprise you."
The tiny cabin that von Voss lived in for eight years is just across a ravine from his house. The outdoor shower has deteriorated into remnants but the benches surrounding an outdoor fireplace deliver a poignant picture of what it must have been like to live there.
Throughout the house, there is a sense of bringing the outdoors inside —and taking the indoors out.
"This was my zen back then. It was such a simple life, that's what I loved about it," explains von Voss, who occasionally still overnights there. "Times change, and you have to go with that. After that, this is like living in a castle—although for some people this would still be considered quite simple. Today, it's this house that has a zen to it."
The house that Vicco von Voss built is still a work in progress. It's one of three pods that will someday be connected by a glass-enclosed breezeway. Each structure will also have a vaulted roof, whose undulating lines are designed to mimic a tree canopy with its smooth, rhythmic motions. On either side of the house today are foundations that have been dug out for two additional wings: a library and a master bedroom.
At the moment, von Voss has no timeframe for finishing the project.
"For me it's not so much about the finished product but the work in progress. It's why I always have to have another project," he says. "For me, it's the challenge of building it."
Ellen Uzelac, who is based in Chestertown, writes for financial and travel publications. She is a former West Coast bureau chief and national correspondent for The Baltimore Sun.
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