RuMo is located on a city lot less than a mile from downtown Raleigh. The rear yard is dominated by a floodplain and large pecan tree. The house frames views of the tree and is formed by the flood elevation and height and setback constraints – a precise manifestation of the allowable building boundary, with a two-story rear opening connecting living and sleeping spaces to the tree. Inside, sectional moves connecting floors expand the scale of otherwise diminutive interiors. The largest of these sectional connections cuts through the entire house, side to side, and contains the stair. Interior movement between public and private spaces frequents this space, which is flooded with natural light and offers a view of the sky at the center of the house. A long protruding window portal lights the kitchen, the center of activity in the house, where our clients love to cook and entertain. This language of portals and slight relief occurs elsewhere on the exterior, most notably as a prefabricated front porch that cantilevers from the from façade.