THE PERIPHERY

The Periphery

A meditation on architecture in one of North America’s most breathtaking landscapes, with Anson Fogel.

Dominated by martian-like deserts and curvaceous rock formations, there are few landscapes quite as enduringly wild as Southern Utah.

It is not a place known for its architecture, or indeed for anything human made with a hope of competing for grandeur with the perpetual spectacle that the earth makes of itself here. If this is the kind of place you want to settle, you best be prepared to meet the environment on its own terms.

That was the aim with The Periphery, a personal project by architect Anson Fogel and his partner Alexandra Fuller. In his own words, “This house was not designed as a showpiece, but for paying attention.” The building’s relationship with its surroundings begins with its footprint, most of which doesn’t touch the ground at all, hovering instead on a series of concrete plinths.

The form factor of the house is also very low profile, hugging the valley floor beside a pond in a series of long, horizontal planes.

Nothing distracts from the primary experience: watching the desert change, hour by hour, season by season.

In the details, the house emphasises a very handmade feel. Between the oak carpentry, the built in furnishings and the organic exterior finishes, the whole things feels like the effort of local craftspeople with an innate sensitivity to the native surroundings. According to Fogel, the house was built to privilege simplicity and connection over spectacle. Nothing distracts from the primary experience: watching the desert change, hour by hour, season by season.