The first night in your new home certainly ranks high on the most memorable moments list, but sometimes those sentimental recollections have nothing to do with the house itself. Such was the case when Jay and Sharon Linard christened their 16,000-square-foot home on 210 acres nestled at the base of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a huge bird migratory area in Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountains.

The family room features one of three home theater systems in the residence, complete with a 38-inch RCA HDTV monitor, and PSB Alpha speakers and subwoofers. The upholstered chairs and sofa, as well as the mahogany entertainment unit, are custom designs created by the designer and architect, respectively. Previous page: The kitchen, like much of the house, is wrapped in mahogany. Diners can watch the morning news on the 20-inch Sony TV, while the cook can watch on the Zenith 15-inch LCD. The home is also equipped with a backup generator, which is integrated into the automation system. The generator is credited with saving the family’s 2002 Christmas dinner when a storm hit. (Click image to enlarge)

“It’s a two-and-half-hour drive from New York, but we thought it would be fun to have a glass of wine and camp out,” says interior designer Stephen Shadley. “The house was half empty, half full.” The designer and his assistant settled in on the floor and the sofa, while Jay slept under the dining room table, an Edward Wormley design of tawhai wood.

“Projects like this are both rewarding and challenging due to the sheer scope and size. But the end result is that the system has to be easy to use, it has to perform flawlessly, and must be a value to the homeowner.” —Tom Kucsan, custom installer (Click image to enlarge)

“I remember sitting on the terrace outside the hunting and fishing room. As we were going to get logs [for the fire pit], we heard a train whistle in the distance and saw a beautiful white shaft of light rise up from the train.” Observing the somewhat mundane occurrence of a locomotive creeping across the landscape transfixed the guests and homeowners. “It was one of those magic moments,” Shadley says. “Experiencing something that you would have never expected really topped it all off.” That memory now comes to life every day in the family room via a 1930s Thomas Weeks Barret Jr. oil painting that depicts a train traveling on a truss bridge over the Hudson River. The home that would carry the couple into the next season of their lives was five years in the making. And since they have settled in, the Linards have discovered a host of other pleasant surprises—one being that each room, thanks to the design of the home, is literally a unique destination in itself. Adding to the magic of each destination is the home’s sophisticated and invisible automation system, which allows the owners to dim the lighting, shut the garage doors, or cue up their favorite music from the audiovisual system with the simple touch of one button.

>The 42-inch Revox plasma TV, above, vanishes into a custom cabinet. “This is an abnormal lift,” says custom installer Tom Kucsan, who worked with the designer and cabinetmaker to design the piece. “Most lifts give you the same lift travel as the TV height—or about 24 inches. This telescoping lift allows the plasma to travel 3 feet.”

Architect Peter Bohlin was brought into the project by Shadley. Bohlin—whose work is highly influenced by modern and historic buildings, and primitive structures such as the pueblos of New Mexico and buildings of North Africa and China—envisioned a sophisticated design that honors the Linards’ passion for rugged Pennsylvania mountains. “What you want to think about [when designing a home for a client] is what they will love 10 years from now. Look beyond what they tell you,” Bohlin says.

“Our clients often prefer that many of the technical innovations in their homes are invisible as they are in the Linard residence.” —Peter Bohlin, architect (Click image to enlarge)

The home’s contemporary persona slowly reveals itself as guests journey to the property—traveling the road that winds through the lower meadow into the deciduous forest and through a grove of hemlocks. Double monolithic limestone chimneys, which look as if they were reclaimed from a historic site, stand sentry. Bohlin incorporated an exposed rock outcropping into the silhouette of the modernist structure to lend a greater sense of antiquity to the property. “There’s an interplay between that space and the forest and the grand views beyond,” says Bohlin of the stone entry and the limestone-floored courtyard that serves as the heart of the home’s glazed timber-framed living pavilions.The weathered rock used throughout the home, some of which is bluestone mined from the nearby hills, continues the historic feel, yet contrasts peacefully with the slate stainless steel roof, Douglas fir columns and beams, cedar, and panel after panel of glass. Clerestory windows and floor-to-ceiling mahogany-framed sliding glass doors, which frame the courtyard, provide the perfect amount of light, creating balance between the heavy structural beams and the architectural rock. The end result is a seamless incorporation of modernism and history. A marriage of structure and place, design, and materials.

Upon entering the gym, above, which resides on the bottom floor, the homeowner can press one button to activate the lighting and three wall-mounted monitors tuned to CNN or satellite radio. (Click image to enlarge)

“When you put together wood and reveal its nature and how you made it, it’s going to feel a little Craftsman-like. Stone elements seem timeless in many cultures because it has been used over time,” Bohlin says of his choice of stone for this home. When asked to identify the architectural style, Bohlin is pleasantly stumped. “I don’t know what it is exactly, and that’s a good thing.”

The fishing-and-gaming room is anchored by a 60-inch Sony TV and an Atlantic Technology subwoofer and speakers. More than 200 lighting loads, 60 security zones, 19 thermostats, and 16 zones of audio are integrated into the 16,000-square-foot home. At night, the owners can arm the security system, shut the garage door, lower the lighting, and shut off the audiovisual system via a touchscreen panel, without leaving their bed. (Click image to enlarge)

Enter Shadley, who rose to the challenge of creating an interior plan that would honor Bohlin’s architectural work. Shying away from a kitschy lodgelike design, the former Los Angeles scenic designer went with the first idea that crossed his mind: the look of the arch villain’s home in the 1950s Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest. “It’s my favorite movie and the timbers and glass reminded me of the Black Hills retreat where James Mason lived,” Shadley says, alluding to the home’s mid-century modernist flair.From that vision sprung a sophisticated blend of streamlined furnishings in chocolate browns, bluish grays, and soft creams, with a few “relicy” items, as Shadley likes to call them. His smooth design is punctuated with a couple of pieces of modern art, although most of the rooms allow the beauty of Mother Nature to shine as the home’s real artwork.

In the dedicated home theater, two of the 12 leather seats are equipped with heating and massage mechanisms. Everything is controlled with a touchscreen—from the automated theater curtains to the lowering of the CRT projector and the activation of the audiovisual equipment. Nineteen lighting loads—including millwork sconces, rope lighting, and puck lights—are also touchscreen-controlled. (Click image to enlarge)

The designer wove a set of 1930s aluminum chairs, an 18th-century Chinese altar table and other Asian antiques, and a set of early 1900s cast cement urns—which Shadley describes as remarkable and iconic—into the layout. Among the relics he interplayed several custom upholstered pieces including a striped wool sofa and chairs. “I basically looked for one item that would mark the room,” he says of his vision to underfurnish as much as possible. “Everything else in each room is related to comfort and familiarity. The spaces are beautiful and are defined by the architecture, so to avoid competing with the architecture I created little islands of furniture—pieces that would have a scale.”

For example, the seamless dining room table is 10 feet long. “Very overscaled but appropriately so for the space,” he says. The living room’s coffee table is a five-by-five-foot square, and the custom and color sectional is enormous. Shadley’s selections make for an easy, livable design. Nothing screams for attention. Everything is user-friendly. Each sophisticated piece works harmoniously with the other pieces, and holds its own within the overall design scheme. “Peter is a modernist of today—he’s so comfortable with simple materials,” Shadley says. “I didn’t want to defy that, and I didn’t want the house to look kitschy. The home is a real nod to midcentury modern.”That design sentiment marches right into the home theater, which is marked by a classic marriage of leather and wood. “Two sides of the theater face the outdoors and we wanted it to have a theatrical look, so we added satin curtains that are automated,” Shadley says. “A lot of the cabinetry has the look of Craftsman and constructivism,” he says. “The cabinetry is a big feature of the room.” The ceiling’s acoustic panel design echoes that of the home’s sliding glass doors and windows.

While the homeowners are fond of listening to the wind rustle through the trees in the surrounding forests, they also love the ease of adding background music to every event, whether it’s entertaining friends in the dining room or paying bills in the office. “There are speakers everywhere,” says custom installer Tom Kucsan of Advanced Residential Systems in Allentown, Pa. “They have them in the garage, along the pool, in the courtyard, even in the master closet. It’s a full 16-zone audio system.” Kucsan adds that the couple’s eclectic music selections—he likes soft rock, while she prefers smooth jazz—are easily accessed from any touchscreen in any room via the home’s Escient TuneBase Pro. “This is a computer that controls a huge CD player—the precursor to the media server,” Kucsan says. “But they’re talking about upgrading.” Controlling lighting, security, and temperature is just as simple as pulling up their favorite CD with the AMX and Lutron automation systems, Kucsan continues.

While the automation and audiovisual system certainly elevates the pleasure of experiencing the home’s many destinations, it also serves the design well. “We bent over backward so the light switches were minimal in the house,” Kucsan says. “It was an adventure—a longer process than any house I’ve worked on,” the interior designer says. “They built an enormous house with terrific destinations because the way they use the house is unique.”

Bohlin echoes that sentiment, noting another unexpected pleasure that the homeowners discovered with time. “As the seasons change, the way they use the house changes. And the house itself changes with each season.