"This house for a family of two adults and four children is located on a corner site which is entered adjacent to a stream running diagonally through the property. The house and the space immediately in front of it make a double square in plan and volumetrically a double cube, with one being open and the other enclosed. The house is understood frontally by the layering of three principal facades....The main volume of the house is entered through the second primary facade, located at the center of the composition. This point of entry is also reflected in the distortion of the plan of the roof terrace above. The third facade, which is the densest, is the rear wall of the house containing the mural."

— Michael Graves. from Michael Graves. Michael Graves: Buildings and Projects 1966-1981. p19.

The Creator's Words

"In making a case for figurative architecture, we assume that the thematic character of the work is grounded in nature and is simultaneously read in a totemic or anthropomorphic manner. An example of this double reading might be had by analyzing the character of a wall. As the window helps us to understand our size and presence within the room, so the wall, though more abstract as a geometric plane, has over time accommodated both pragmatic and symbolic divisions. Once the wainscot or chair rail is understood as being similar in height to the window sill, associations between the base of the wall...and our own bodies are easily made. As we stand upright and are, in a sense, rooted in the ground, so the wall, through its wainscot division, is rooted relative to the floor."

— Michael Graves. from Michael Graves. Michael Graves: Buildings and Projects 1966-1981. p12