maintaining the "romantic low scale of the various
connected buildings to fit more harmoniously within
the untouched natural beauty of the site. To achieve
these ends, he followed the most difficult of all paths—
creating ordered asymmetry." Imber added two wings,
reusing materials found on the site as well as the same
rounded river stone used by Le Storgeon. The result is
a masterpiece of vernacular architecture, a lodge-like
compound of weathered stone
and timber buildings which
seem always to have stood
in this landscape, sovereign,
enclosed, fortification as well as
house. It is fair to say that many
of Imber's houses possess this
inward-looking quality, often with
small windows that appear as
elegantly spaced apertures or
even portholes in thick walls,
protection against a rugged
climate and terrain.
In the Dos Suenos, Casa de las
Lomas and Rancho Dos Vidas
houses, Imber most closely seems inspired by the
great adobe missions of the West and other aspects
of Hispano-Moorish architecture. The gothic arches,
Le Pigeonner
HYLAND
