This thesis attempts to establish a first design philosophy by proposing nature and architecture as mutually interactive conceits within the scope of the design process. Positing that our conceptions of "green" design are rightfully influenced by the various and often highly metaphorical social constructions of nature that precede them, an architecural exercise is then explored as a similarly constructed response. After assembling a definition of nature based in part on the climate, terrain and traditional building practices of rural western North Carolina, a house is then posed for its site on the border of the Pisgah National Forest. / Master of Architecture