Mountain View Seen for Millions of Years is about this Architect’s view from his own recently completed place.
This is surely the view Cherokee Indians appreciated 10,000 years ago from this same spot, as the sun began to wind down to the west. Well: perhaps not with the edge of the Architect’s new patio there at the bottom. But the mountains themselves? Certainly.
400 million years ago, the Blue Ridge Mountains began forming due to seismic events in the Silurian Period, and 320 million years ago, North America and Europe collided, gradually pushing up the Blue Ridge. So these are among the oldest mountains on the planet. A great view for any mountain house.
And the view from inside the house:
What more could anyone want? This giant wall of glass is bigger than a billboard. It takes a lot of experience, know-how and skill to design and detail such a wall, which also has to resist a Code required wind load of 110 mph ultimate wind speed. Some areas in these mountains require 140 mph wind load resistance. Many builders and other designers do not know how to resist such a massive structural live load and so take the meek way out and only use small windows. Which is a shame when they could have had a much more ambitious amount of glass, enjoying big views like this.