The history of modern architecture is dotted with rocks. Albert Frey, Oscar Niemeyer, John Lautner—these legends and more have all thrilled to the constraints of igneous obstacles, embracing existing land masses as defining elements of their interiors. Continuing in this tectonic tradition is Christian Wassmann, a Swiss-born talent at the epicenter of New York’s art and design scenes. For him, that geological allure is metaphysical. “Everything I design is meant to connect individuals to one another, to themselves, and to the cosmos,” explains Wassmann, who sees his projects as liminal spaces defined by people and place. “The ingredients are the site and the client.” 

© Architectural Digest The roof is designed to funnel rain toward the boulder and courtyard.

For his latest job, the clients happened to be his own family. Seven years ago, he and his wife, nonprofit-development consultant Luisa Gui, began scouring upstate New York for a parcel of land on which to build a home for themselves and their two children, Kiki and Lorenzo. Their wish list was short: a view and a boulder. Tipped off to a lot for sale on a former quarry, the family piled into the car, making their way up the Palisades Interstate Parkway and eventually turning onto a mile-long gravel road. “There was this incredible feeling of slowing down,” Wassmann recalls of their arrival at the hilltop site, which overlooks the Hudson Valley. At the property’s center sat a glacial erratic, its monumental form deposited by prehistoric ice in retreat. “We called the Realtor before we even got out of the car.”

That awesome rock is the central feature of the family’s new home, a sustainable feat at one with the land and the heavens. To determine its unexpected form, Wassmann spent weekends on-site sleeping in an Airstream—studying the terrain and gazing up at the galaxy. In the end he returned to his initial sketch: the boulder encircled by the house, the roof a sculptural funnel tiled in photovoltaic panels. Layered into that elegant solution, however, are complex geometries and astrological cues. The roof’s shape, for example, is optimized for maximum sun. Inside, a hollow railing doubles as a viewing device to locate Polaris, the sky’s reliable North Star. The slope of that staircase also echoes the plot’s 42-degree latitude while being parallel to the earth’s north-south axis, which Wassmann mapped using a laser level to line up the boulder with Polaris. 

© Architectural Digest Large window panels frame views of the Hudson Valley.

Due to complexities of pandemic construction, the project morphed into a DIY crash course. Rolling up his sleeves, Wassmann assembled the prefab timber elements with the help of local carpenters; poured the concrete floors, then ground them to expose the aggregate; and installed the 240 photovoltaic roof shingles. When it came time to put in the glass window walls, he relied on YouTube tutorials, a rented crane, and the generous assistance of friends. “That was the scariest moment, getting the curved glass between the rock and the house,” he remembers. 

More of a New York House Built Around a Boulder

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Architectural designer Christian Wassmann oriented his family’s new home in upstate new york around a glacial erratic on the property; the roof is clad in photovoltaic panels by [Sunstyle](https://www.sunstyle.com/){: target=

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All’s well that ends—happily for Wassmann—better than well. Not only is the house a stunner, it’s also a paradigm of energy efficiency, producing some 18,000 kilowatts but only requiring 8,000, leaving enough surplus to power an electric car for drives to and from the city (with extra going back to the grid). The roof, meanwhile, directs rain toward the boulder, where drainpipes then guide the water under the concrete slab, down the hill, and into what will one day be a proper swimming pond. “We dug six feet below ground and found this beautiful bedrock, where you could see how the glacier carved through the land,” Wassmann reflects. The same bedrock reappears indoors, along the floor of the living area’s conversation pit, where family and friends gathered this past New Year’s Eve as a disco ball bounced light around the room. At home, in nature, Wassmann feels spiritually settled. “I designed this house to last 300 years,” he notes. In the meantime, let the music play.

This story appears in AD’s April 2023 issue. To see Christian Wassmann’s home in print, subscribe to AD.