A Frelighsburg orchard shack transformed

The owner dreamed of a gray shingle cottage by the ocean. He happily settled for a Frelighsburg apple-pickers' shack with a spectacular view that sweeps from the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks to six of the monteregian hills that were once islands in the ancient Champlain sea.

If some houses are "machines for living," this one is a Swiss army knife, with multiple appendages to the original 35 ft. (10.7m) by 22 ft. (6.7m) box--decks and porches that reach out in all directions to nature and dramatic horizons. Their function is to direct human activities into the appropriate outdoor space, whether screened, covered, trellised, or open to the sky, thereby heightening the experience of the unique site.

Pushing southward toward Vermont is an entry/breakfast porch, scaled for a small table for two. To the west is a spacious deck (with a pergola planned) for viewing the high peaks of the Adirondacks, including Mount Marcy, one mile (1 629m) high and 85 miles (136km) away. A deep screened porch for summer living, dining and sleeping is planned on the north side. And moving upward to the roof, a broad "star-deck" platform, engineered to accommodate small groups of astronomy buffs while minimizing telescope vibration.

At latitude 45 degrees, halfway between the North Pole and the equator, and far from the streetlights of civilization, this isolated gray shingle cottage on a flank of The Pinnacle is an ideal place for celestial observation, simple living and contemplation of nature.