Serial entrepreneur Najaf Husain, founder and CEO of Cloudistics, may be learning to relax. While Husain enjoys driving a racecar to relieve stress, he and his wife, Margriet Langenberg-Husain, treasure their quiet time at Wildcat, their contemporary-style retreat on a hilltop overlooking Morningside Training Farm in The Plains, Va.
“My favorite time of day here is early on a weekend morning when I sit outside, relax, and have time to think and come up with new ideas,” says Husain, who runs a Reston-based private cloud storage firm.
Husain frequently works at home and brings business colleagues to the unusual property for meetings.
“Brainstorming comes more easily in this setting,” he says.
The Wildcat Mountain residence, designed by architect David Jameson, was shaped by the land it rests on and the shared vision of Jameson and Husain for a modern space with views in every direction.
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“This project is an architect’s dream because we were able to be involved with the interior materials and even the landscaping, so the entire project is all in one voice,” Jameson says.
A home that welcomes nature
Najaf Husain escapes his fast-paced, high-tech world at Wildcat in The Plains, Va.
The approximately 12,000-square-foot house has heavy stone walls that twist and rotate and get larger as you travel through the house. The four L-shaped stone walls define the home into public spaces for entertaining, private rooms and an indoor/outdoor living pavilion that can be opened to the outdoors. In between the stone walls are outdoor “rooms” with views of the valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains. A swimming pool with an infinity edge seems to hang in midair adjacent to the house.
“The stone walls hide the construction of the house and blend with nature so that it seems like there’s no end or beginning to the house and no inside and outside,” says Julia Walter, managing director of Boffi Georgetown and designer of the kitchen, bathrooms and closets at Wildcat.
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There are four main sections to the house, including the living and dining pavilion; the master suite; the section with the guest suites; and the garage.
Equestrian interests
Husain is more into racecars than horses, Jameson says, but he wanted to connect with the land and support his son’s deep interest in equestrian sports. Connor Husain, now 26, started as an “eventer” — which refers to contests similar to a triathlon with a horse and rider competing in dressage, show jumping and cross-country events. Now he has transitioned to focus on show jumping and travels frequently for equestrian events.
“I bought Morningside Training Farm in 2012 and upgraded it a bit,” Husain says. “It’s one of the premiere riding facilities in the country and it’s in a beautiful location.”
Morningside, known for visits from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and for its indoor and outdoor training and show rings, is close to the Great Meadows Polo Club and the Virginia Gold Cup fields. Morningside Farm includes about 120 acres and the Wildcat property includes an additional 250 acres, Husain says.
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“A friend came over to see Morningside and suggested we walk up through the woods to a hill overlooking the valley,” Husain says. “It turned out to be for sale and so I bought it and decided to build a modern house on the site.”
Husain, who shares his love of contemporary architecture with his late father, interviewed several architects after he purchased the hillside land.
“David was immediately interested, and we got along well,” Husain says. “I explained that I wanted the house to be built of glass, stone and wood. I wanted it to have a modern feel, with a contemporary vibe that reflects what I love about tech.”
The stones for the hand-stacked stone walls come from the Carderock area of Maryland, and larger boulders were shipped from Pennsylvania, Jameson says.
“We stacked every piece of stone individually to create these tectonic walls,” Jameson says. “We used special glazed glass so there are no visible lines on the glass walls.
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The modern style, Husain says, contrasts with the more traditional style of homes in the area, but it also embraces the nature that surrounds the house.
“The most important feature of this house to me is that everything connects to the outdoors,” Husain says. “The inside of the house matters a lot less because the point is to capture the view everywhere.”
The house has an informal design, with the open living space with its 25-foot-high ceiling as the focal point. Jameson says the juxtaposition between the entertaining space and the intimate spaces for bedrooms, an office and exercise area matches Husain’s ideas for how to use the house.
“The walls torque a bit, kind of twist like a Pringles, with the pinched-down part above the media room, office and exercise room,” Jameson says. “Each section of the house is unified by an epoxy floor that’s like a cruise-ship deck without any seams, but the twisting of the walls defines the spaces.”
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A two-sided fireplace defines the living and dining areas. Created from stainless-steel bars, the fireplace sometimes appears see-through and sometimes appears solid depending on where you’re standing to view it.
Share this articleShare“We came from a traditional house so we had to find the right mix of new furniture that would be contemporary and clean but also warm and classic,” Husain says. “We eventually chose a lot of Danish and Italian furniture because it looks modern but also timeless. The goal is for everyone to be comfortable and to encourage people to sit together in small groups.”
While a long driveway leads to the house, Jameson says there’s no sense of a true “front” or “back” because each side has a view of the farm, valley, swimming pool or mountain. He says they used GPS coordinates to perfectly orient the home to the views.
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“There are porches on every side of the house with different views so you can never get bored,” Husain says.
Kitchen drama
Walter, Jameson and Husain teamed to create a modern yet rustic kitchen design with three-dimensional wood to echo yet contrast with the stacked-stone walls.
“Husain is a tech guy, so he’s interested in both refined and raw materials,” Jameson says. “We tried to use the juxtaposition of things made by machines and handmade by artisans.”
In the kitchen, for example, the Boffi cabinets were made by machine for precision fit, yet they’re constructed of authentic walnut. Nearby, the stone walls are also precision-cut but are imperfect natural stone and stacked by hand. While most of the kitchen counters are granite, a reclaimed piece of wood forms a breakfast bar above one section of the granite.
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The challenge for this project, Walter says, was to design extremely tall cabinet doors for the kitchen and closets with wood veneer that looks consistent from top to bottom.
“David asked us to fit the kitchen into specific design parameters, such as having every door exactly the same,” Walter says. “We wrapped the cabinets around ductwork and supports so that you don’t see walls. It’s as if the cabinets are free-standing.”
Walter consistently used wood veneer and occasionally a metallic finish throughout the kitchen and bathrooms to give the house an organic look, she says.
The kitchen’s multiple ovens, hidden wine refrigerator and abundant cabinets provide ample space when the Husains entertain.
Friends and family members join the Husains every week for dinner parties.
“Entertaining was part of the purpose of building this home,” Husain says. “We wanted to create a place where people can meet each other and enjoy nature, so we have an open-door policy and people can come whenever they like.”
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The property has goats, chickens, horses and gardens along with plenty of places for guests to sit and enjoy the view and to wander in the woods to see turkeys, deer and the occasional bear.
“We added seating areas next to the guest bedrooms so that people can feel comfortable to just sit and relax wherever they want,” Husain says.
Husain says it was important to him that the house have sustainable characteristics, such as a green roof, energy-efficient features and a passive solar design to optimize the exposure to the sun. Twenty geothermal wells provide sustainable power.
Smart-home features are equally important to Husain, who has spent decades working in technology.
“An essential part of the house was to have networking and connectivity baked in to the plans,” Husain says. “We have home-automation systems in place now and everything can be modified for the future, so we’re not locked in as technology changes.”
Jameson says the tech equipment room looks like a small submarine.
While the house is contemporary and dramatic, Husain says it’s also meant to be “all about the people who come here to enjoy it.”
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