....Orientation is along two major axes; one building axis is dictated by solar south and the other is dictated by his room in the adjacent sanitarium. The center of the house is Vincent's deprivation space where only indirect, filtered daylight is admitted through a skylight with a ceiling canopy. Designed for his periods of extreme sensitivity, this room is located at the intersection of the two axes. This junction is also the center of a series of concentric rings, formed by various elements of the house and site, which is inspired by Vincent's treatment of light sources in his painting.

Response to solar and day lighting phenomena reflects Vincent's obsession with the sun. Oriented east-west, the deep over-hangs on the southern exposure keep the house from over-heating in the summer. All spaces have generous glazing for natural day lighting; the studio space is given a northern exposure for optimum conditions in which to paint. Two free-standing, concrete slabs to the east and west of the house cast shadows which fill the corresponding windows on the winter and summer solstices.

Vincent's life-long identification with the poor dictated that the building be made of common materials and that the area be a maximum of 1400 square feet.