Our design was based on the entry sequence and circulation into the house.  As you came in, you cut into an axis that opened up as you moved into the house.  As this path passed through the living room and passed the fireplace, it opened up into grand views of the forest (and sometimes creek) outside.  There was another path that crossed this entry sequence which tied together the rest of the house.  It went along the back of the living area, crossing the living room in front of the fireplace (which becomes the knuckle between the two paths), and then through the kitchen, and ending up in a stair to the second floor bedrooms.  This cross axis scheme created a complex massing that we articulated through the use of different materials and formal volumes.