It’s with excitement that we’re preparing for construction this fall on this new ground-up residence in bucolic Bedford, N.Y. The home sits on a four-acre wooded property amid horse farms and country estates. It features a modernist design inspired by the International Style, examples of which abound in neighboring New Canaan, Conn. The facade is clad with the traditional Japanese charred timber siding known as yakisugi or shou sugi ban. Vertical modules in both the wood and glass panels punctuate the horizontal exteriors, creating a continuous visual rhythm. Spatially, the home consists of four distinct volumes that shift and interact with the landscape, each of them opening onto or overlooking a meadowlike interior courtyard. Central, facing sets of glass doors – which define the sunken living room on the ground floor – create an airiness that makes the smaller second floor appear as if it’s floating above.