Nestled in a meadow behind the farmhouse at White Rock Farm, the Cave is a place to recharge in security and seclusion. It is where partners reconnect, and children wonder. Designed as a berm house, the Cave invites guests to dwell within the landscape and sleep under a wildflower meadow.

Built into a sloping meadow, the Cave is a deep recess formed from materials gathered from the property. Entry to the Cave brings a surprise—it is not dark and humid grotto, but a space filled with light and made of golden wood! A thin-shell, gridded dome of Burr Oak—and topped with a wildflower meadow—covers the interior spaces. Boulders used for fireplaces and buttressed walls are glacial erratics cleared by the farm’s 19th century owners. Clerestory windows allow light to shine through the space while a glazed wall facing south-west allows for views to the mountains beyond. The four-square plan includes a living room, eat-in kitchen, bedroom, and full bath.

Meeting Passive house and Living Building Challenge standards, the Cave produces more energy than it uses and is a regenerative structure that connects occupants to light, air, nature, and well-being. The Cave is self-sufficient—off-the-grid and electric, with a totemic solar assembly, composting and urine-diverting toilets, and gray water irrigation.

The Cave positively impacts human and natural systems. It is a place of pause and return where one watches the day pass as the sun moves over each opening above you, and where every adventure ends with a goodbye to the setting sun, a gently burning fireplace, and a bath overlooking wildflowers.