With a 0.6-acre waterfront site abutting another half-acre parcel they owned, they could have built a residence of almost any size. Instead, they prioritized creating an intimate family compound with the existing guest cottage on the neighboring parcel, a shared garage, and a boathouse. “They didn’t want the house to dominate the land,” Marcus says.

Naturally Planned

Designed by Marcus and MGa project architect Robyn Bell Gentile, AIA, the 4,820-square-foot home intricately weaves together stone, steel, and wood assemblies in a manner that both showcases New England craftsmanship and merges with the landscape when viewed from the water. The hand-blended mixture of 6-inch-thick granite from three local quarries cladding the structure’s main and walkout levels emulates the site’s mottled stone seawall. The upper level is clad with nickel-gap siding, painted a color that draws from the granite veneer and the dark browns, greens, and grays of the surrounding trees and lichen.

Exposed Douglas fir glulam rafters grace the home’s flat roof and run continuously from outside to in, a length of approximately 30 feet. Zinc painted on the cut ends helps the wood resist decay while insulation above the ceiling and collars at the fascia limit thermal bridging and air and water infiltration. Marcus says his firm aimed to “build a house that would, through its quality of construction, sustain itself naturally.”

The emphasis on timelessness continues inside, starting with a compressed entry walled with large-format granite masonry and inspired by the slot canyons of the Southwest. “You come into a dark and rich space of nooks and crannies that’s low and lit by a northern oriented stair,” Marcus says. An overhead black steel beam bridging the stone corridor frames the awaiting vignette: “You come into the atrium and everything opens up.”

Here, a double-height kitchen sits at a notched inset of the floor plan and faces the neighboring cottage, fostering connection and inviting in natural light. The volume of the space then closes again, with a shiplapped interior wall of the second-level primary suite bowing the ceiling height of a dining area and great room, before rising at the glazed rear elevation to reveal an unobstructed view of the lake—thanks to a 24-foot-long steel moment frame. “It’s very sequential in a dramatic way,” says Marcus, who was influenced by the compression and release of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House entry.

The Art of The Craft

The quality of light at water’s edge dictated the choice of natural materials and expert craftsmanship for interior finishes. “You get a lot of light reflecting off the water that, in turn, catches the walls, floors, and ceilings of the house,” he explains. “It makes drywall a disaster because light that comes in at a shallow angle will show any imperfection.” During construction, the architects carted prospective selections—tiles, granite, paint colors—to the site to gauge their appearance and character in the setting.

Using thin profiles where possible helps convey the seamless effect, while preserving material. For instance, those walls of subtly shimmery granite throughout the lower level may look like full blocks, but the stone is only a 1½-inch-thick veneer. Robyn credits the expertise of the mason, a repeat MGa collaborator, for “arranging the pieces to have the right amount of depth to catch the shadows from the light.”

Douglas fir glulam beams, ceiling slats, and wall panels warm the white oak flooring, while custom furniture in rift-sawn walnut adds visual interest. Each meeting of wood, stone, and steel members is a meticulously detailed work of art.

A glazed stairwell provides soft northern light, which filters to multiple floors via glass railing panels and open risers. The black steel mono stringer appears to tie into the house’s exposed steel structure, Robyn says, despite being an independent component. The floating granite treads reflect light and are more slip-resistant than wood treads, Marcus notes—an important consideration for a lake house where people often roam in socks. Similarly supporting the lifestyle, an east entrance on the foundation level grants direct access from the lake into a cabana area, complete with a sauna and facilities for showering, changing, and laundry.

This level also comprises a wine storage and tasting room, whose design Marcus unapologetically gleaned from the famed wine cellar of The French Laundry in Napa Valley. The tasting room walks out to a patio, bathing the space in eastern light.

The architects hope the Cove House, completed in the fall 2023, embodies for its owners what Bruce Springsteen might have envisioned when writing the song “My Beautiful Reward.” “That’s a concept that we followed,” Marcus says, “in trying to create an environment that they’re going to enjoy living in for the rest of their lives.”

Cove House

Lakes Region, New Hampshire

Architect: Marcus Gleysteen, AIA, partner in charge; Robyn Bell Gentile, AIA, principal/project architect, Marcus Gleysteen Architects, Boston

Builder: Tony Bourque, Burpee Hill Construction, Sunapee, New Hampshire

Interior furnishings: Nanette Chandler, Brookline, Massachusetts

Landscape architect: Greg Grigsby and Chris Kessler, Gradient Landscape Architects, New London, New Hampshire

Cabinetmaker: Matt Knittle, MK Wood Works, Enfield, New Hampshire

Architectural metalwork: Chris Aubrey, Modern Metal Solutions, Hudson, New Hampshire

Furniture maker: Blissmade, Dunbarton, New Hampshire

Mason: Stone Mountain Masonry, Belmont, New Hampshire

Painter: Lambert Coatings, Lempster, New Hampshire

Project size: 4,820 square feet

Site size: 0.6 acre

Construction cost: Withheld

Photography: Trent Bell

Key Products

Appliances: Wolf (range); Best (kitchen hood); Cove (dishwasher); Sub-Zero (refrigerator/freezer); Sharp (microwave oven); Tuzio (towel warmer); Electrolux (washer/dryer)

Bathtub: Kohler

Ceiling: Clear vertical grain Douglas fir

Cladding: TruExterior, natural granite veneer

Countertops: Wicked White quartzite (kitchen); Royal Danby (bathrooms); Colorquartz pewter (powder room); Ann Sacks Terrazzo Renata (wet bar)

Doors/windows: Duratherm (entry door, glass doors, windows); Rocky Mountain Hardware (entry hardware); Simpson Door Co. (passage door, garage); Emtek (interior door hardware)

Faucets: Dornbracht (kitchen, powder room, primary bathroom); Grohe (secondary bathroom); California Faucets (powder room); Hansgrohe (shower)

Fireplace: Granite (great room); Ortal (basement)

Glass: Weldwork (wine room)

Flooring: White oak; black slate tile (entry); porcelain tile (lower level)

HVAC: Dayus (bathroom grilles)

Lighting, exterior: Tech Lighting (recessed); Modern Forms (sconces, step lights)

Lighting, interior: WAC Lighting (recessed); Juno (recessed)

Sinks: Julien (kitchen); MTI Baths (primary bathroom); Kohler (secondary bathrooms)

Skylight: VELUX

Tile: Ann Sacks (primary and secondary bathrooms)

Toilet: TOTO

Wine racks: Vigilant

The post Case Study: Cove House by Marcus Gleysteen Architects appeared first on Residential Design.

That’s where all semblance of the original Italianate architecture disappears, lost over decades of innumerable renovations. “It was chopped up into three or four different apartments,” says Mark Peters, AIA, principal at the local firm Studio Dwell Architects, which oversaw the three-story, 6,371-square-foot house’s renovation and expansion. Multiple door openings and staircases had been added in, and the interiors were in rough shape.

The dissonance between the exterior and interior, however, didn’t faze the home’s owners, a family with two young children. They were committed to preserving the integrity of the historical façade, but they wanted an open and light-filled interior with modern elements and amenities. With little love lost, the house was gutted, save for portions of the original brick sidewalls and wooden floors, which would need reinforcing.

Bright Refresh

Following 14 months of construction, the new interior is light and minimalist. White oak flooring, millwork, soffits, and open-riser stairs intermingle with a custom maple breakfast counter and cabinets, countertops, and the kitchen hood finished in different sheens of white. The neutral-color materials provide a foil to the wall expanses of exposed original Chicago common brick, pressure-washed to reveal their rich texture and yellow/tan, red/orange, and black composition. “We wanted to limit the palette so that the concept came through cleaner and felt lighter,” Mark says.

Radiant floor heating and cooling free the walls of utilities. To bring water service to a first-floor wet bar, Studio Dwell cleverly hid pipes in a wall-mounted chase clad in white oak that integrates with floating white cabinets in a discreet, geometric arrangement. “In rehab situations,” Mark says, “you often have to make field decisions and come up with design elements on the spot.”

Bringing in Light

The modern interior isn’t the only surprise behind the façade. The 22-foot-wide home has an astonishing 80-foot depth, revealed in dramatic effect by its open floorplan. As typical for the neighborhood, the site is approximately 25 feet wide. “It sits on the property line on one side and has 3 feet of clearance on the other side,” Mark says. Neighboring houses continue this spacing, allowing each home to stand detached, but limiting opportunities for daylight to enter along their length.

Consequently, achieving the light-filled space that the client envisioned was one of the project’s biggest challenges. Because no new openings would be made to the preserved northwest façade, the daylight would have to come primarily from the building’s rear, southeast elevation. A three-story, glazed curtain wall paired with an open, double-height space between the first and second levels allows daylight to reach deep into these lower two floors.

A Rear Retreat

A deteriorating three-car garage situated against the back property line provided the footprint for additional square footage. Studio Dwell rebuilt the structure as a two-car garage and then topped it with a fitness room, another item on the owners’ wish list. Similar to the main house’s rear elevation, the fitness room features full-height windows with black mullions. “They wanted to have this transparent, visual connection between the fitness room and the house,” Mark says.

An enclosed two-story breezeway with a glazed curtain wall ties the two structures physically and visually together. The glass expanses are juxtaposed with exterior wall planes of Chicago common brick, which also complement the brick cladding of neighboring houses. This more utilitarian brick was often used on the side and rear elevations of houses, Mark explains, while the more architectural brick was reserved for the façade. 

Studio Dwell found a manufacturer that made a modern common brick, with hollowed cores for rebar, and had different color combinations mocked up. Ultimately, a composition of roughly 75% yellow/tan, 5% red/orange, and 20% black best enhanced the black curtain wall and window frames and the surrounding existing brick. “It feels like the addition was a continuation,” Mark says, “or something already existing.”

The breezeway provides protection from the elements, as well as a gallery for the owners’ artwork collection, an additional source of daylight for the interior, and a third wall for a courtyard retreat nestled between the house and garage. For its location in a city of millions, the courtyard, complete with a reflecting pond, feels surprisingly intimate due to its careful siting from the neighboring house. “There is a good sense of privacy … because the angles are played with so that nobody can get straight views,” Mark says.

Preserving the historical structure was the project’s most sustainable accomplishment, Mark believes. “It’s much cheaper and easier sometimes to start new,” he says. “But when you can save a building that is almost 140 years old, that’s fantastic.”

House on the Park

Chicago, Illinois

Architect/Interior Designer/Landscape Architect: Mark Peters, AIA, principal in charge; David Pierson, project manager, Studio Dwell, Chicago

Builder: Fettner Construction, Highwood, Illinois

Structural Engineer: Rockey Structures, Chicago

Project Size: 6,371 square feet

Site Size: 3,485 square feet

Construction Cost: Withheld

Photography: Marty Peters Photography

Key Products

Appliances: Wolf (range); Broan (vent hood); Miele (oven, warmer drawer, speed oven); Fisher & Paykel (dishwasher); Thermador (refrigerator); LG (washer/dryer)

Cabinetry: White lacquer; high gloss enamel; solid maple island tabletop (kitchen); Häfele (hardware); white oak veneer panel (built-ins)

Ceiling and soffit: White oak veneer panels; drywall

Cladding: Bricks, Inc.

Countertops: Solid surface

Doors/Windows: Fleetwood; LaCantina (folding); VELUX (skylight); Omnia (interior door hardware); SOSS (hinges); existing (entry doors and hardware)

Faucets: Grohe (kitchen); Dornbracht (primary bathroom); Hansgrohe (controls & faucets)

Flooring: Polished concrete (first floor); 7-inch white oak plank (second and third floors)

HVAC: Whole-house HEPA filter and energy-recovery ventilation system; Broan (bathroom ventilation)

Lighting, exterior: WAC Lighting, Delta, Tech Lighting

Lighting, interior: Juno (downlights); Lutron (controls), Lightology

Paints and stains: Benjamin Moore

Sinks: Ruvati (kitchen); ADM and Duravit (bathrooms)

Toilet: TOTO; Viega (flush plates)

Tub: Lacava (primary bathroom); Signature (filler)

Vanities: ADM, Duravit

The post Case Study: House on the Park by Studio Dwell appeared first on Residential Design.

The other mix the firm has mastered is a blend of modern and traditional design that always feels familiar and fresh at the same time. It’s these qualities the clients on this second home project sought when they approached the firm with 160 scenic—but complicated—acres in Jackson Hole. “It is one of the most unusual sites that we’ve worked on,” says lead interior design partner Tim Pfeiffer. “The rarity of the site itself and the surroundings.” 

The typical second home lot in Jackson is about 10 acres, prepped and ready to build upon by a developer. The clients here had assembled their own untamed acreage, combining three large parcels along a winding river that branches into a myriad of meandering creeks and streams.

“The site is within a few hundred feet of the riverbank, and during the snowmelt in early spring, it’s right in the middle of the flood zone for the runoff,” explains Bryan Chilcote, an architecture principal at the firm. Nonetheless, proximity to the river was the entire point of the project for the clients, who are avid fly fishing enthusiasts. They just needed Hoedemaker Pfeiffer to solve the problem of that proximity.

There There

The river valley property is surrounded by mountains, but is otherwise flat and featureless, with no obvious location for a homestead. “The site was impossible to understand,” Steve recalls. “When I got there, the clients said ‘here’s a gator. Go drive around and decide where the house should go.’ But it was all river bottom, and there was no topography to it. It was just different plants of different sizes and different fields interwoven with bits of stream and creek. 

“I finally went into the middle of a hayfield that had those giant round hay bales and started standing on the bales and looking around—trying to understand what it would mean to build a house that wasn’t just sitting all the way down along the bottom,” he continues. As it happens, the 6-foot-tall hay bale revealed the perfect height to raise the house to—at once above the spring runoff and just elevated enough to create a sense of place within the vastness of the surroundings. 

While hoisting the house was the answer, the goal was still a home that was modest in scale and low-slung—to keep it from dominating the natural beauty of the property. So instead of turning to structure for the boost, the team extracted the height they needed from the creation of a small lake adjacent to the footprint of the house. Says Bryan, “We used the material we extracted for the lake to build a plinth above the existing grade. At the end of grading it all out, you really can’t tell we manipulated it to the extent we did.”

The elegant solution doesn’t just solve the problem of the floodplain, it harnesses it—establishing a focal point within the larger expanse. It’s now a destination for more than just humans; it welcomes all the nearby wildlife. “The lake anchors that wide-open space,” Bryan says. “It catches the light and reflects it into the house. It becomes part of the ecosystem, with water flowing into and out of it from the streams and creeks on the property.” 

Gone Fishing

“We thought of the house as a tool to get the owners outdoors and allow them to explore the site,” says Steve. To that end, the one-story building takes every opportunity to point the occupants toward a means of egress. “We nerded out a bit by laying out the house exactly north/south and east/west, with two hallways that intersect right in the entry hall.

“The hallways serve as markers of seasonality,” he continues. “As the equinox approaches, you can watch the sun rise and set at the ends of the east/west hallway. It’s a way of understanding the passage between seasons.”  

While the architects “nerd out” about cardinal profundities, the interior design team is often hovering right over their shoulders directing attention to functional practicalities. Says Tim, “They are used to me saying, now you’ve designed another beautiful home that’s fully built-in and you haven’t left me one wall for a piece of furniture—so let’s pull back just a minute.” 

“As an architecture team we tend to find some things we like and run them through the house,” Steve agrees. “And the interior design team does a much better job of thinking about, what is the mood of this space and how do we bring that forward? And how can we think about that with all of the materials. For us, working with the interior design team has been game-changing in terms of the depth, richness, and complexity of the materials we use.” 

For this project, the emphasis was on casual, functional, and durable, infused with as much of the local vibe as possible. “The clients are incredibly unpretentious. They didn’t want to be surrounded by precious things,” Tim explains. “They welcomed the notion of having the exterior’s salvaged material on the inside—and flooring, stonework, and furniture the dogs could live on. They just asked us to make it as friendly as can be.”

In addition to the “straightforward” program of three bedrooms, an office, and a great room, the clients asked for two spaces dedicated to their special passions. The first is a commodious mudroom/gear room. “They’re fishermen and duck hunters, so they have every kind of rain gear, boot gear, waders—anything and everything,” says Tim. Appointed with plentiful built-in storage, easy-to-clean stainless-steel counters, and a dog washing station for the crusty canines, the room underscores the rough-and-ready romance of their frontier life.

When not sporting outdoors, the clients delight in hunkering down for a rousing game of cards, so they also requested a small gathering place to play. The team obliged, designing a charming alcove within the great room with built-in seating and bookshelves. Win, lose, or draw, the clutter can be shut away with sliding pocket doors. 

The intimacy and warmth of the game room hideaway makes it a favorite of the clients and of the entire team—architects and interior designers alike. Says Steve, “We love these human-scale places where you put the building on like a well-loved sweater.”

Wyoming Retreat

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Architect: Steve Hoedemaker, architecture partner; Bryan Chilcote, principal and architect, Hoedemaker Pfeiffer, Seattle

Interior Designer: Tim Pfeiffer, interiors partner; Peak Petersen, principal interior designer, Hoedemaker Pfeiffer, Seattle

Builder: R&T Construction, Afton, Wyoming

Landscape Architect: Allworth Design, Seattle

Project Size: 3,200 square feet

Site Size: 160 acres

Photography: Haris Kenjar (interiors); Gabe Border (exteriors)

Key Products

Cabinetry: KVO Custom Cabinets

Cladding: Reclaimed wood paneling from Montana (exteriors, interiors)

Cooking Ventilation: Vent-A-Hood

Countertops: Da Vinci Marble Basaltina (kitchen); Da Vinci Marble Striato Grigio (primary)

Decking: Yellow cedar

Dishwasher: Thermador

Doors/Windows/Window Systems: Loewen

Door hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware

Faucets: California Faucets, Newport Brass, PHYLRICH

Flooring: Cle Tile, Ambiente. Earth Elements, Ann Sacks, Artistic Tile, Perfect Hardwood Floors Ski Collection 

Grill: Wolf

Home Control: Savant

Icemaker: Scotsman

Lighting: BK Lighting (exterior); Arteriors, Visual Comfort, Olampia (interiors)

Lighting Control: Lutron

Paints: Sansin (exterior); Benjamin Moore (interior)

Pavers: Sandstone

Range: Wolf

Refrigerator: Sub-Zero

Roofing: AEP Span

Washer/Dryer: Maytag

Window Shading Systems: Lutron

The post Case Study: Wyoming Retreat by Hoedemaker Pfeiffer appeared first on Residential Design.

The resulting three-story, 3,300-square-foot home greets visitors with a west-facing geometric façade clad in dark-stained vertical cedar siding, which could seem stark were it not surrounded by a welcoming carpet of lush landscaping and opened up by expanses of glass. “The house has strategic points of transparency to connect to the street, sidewalk, and neighborhood at the entrance,” says PBW Architects principal Shawn Kemna. For example, glazed curtainwalls at the entry expose the lower half of an interior dog-legged floating staircase. As the family “moves in and out of the house, and up and down through the levels, they’re connecting to the street front,” he notes.

Looking In and Out

The strong indoor–outdoor connection continues east to the open L-shaped living space, which segues into a spacious south-facing, elevated deck via perpendicular lift and slide doors that open from the inside corner of the L. PBW Architects owner and principal Dan Wickline says the project siting intentionally pushes the house volume to the north and pulls it back from the south to open the structure to the neighborhood and to abundant natural light.

Both that light and the views into and out of the house are controlled through its architecture. Thoughtful extensions of floor plates create overhangs that offer protection from the elements at the entrance and part of the deck, while a seemingly rectangular roof plan that subtly splays and pivots into a five-sided polygon provides coverage from sun and rain at the primary bedroom’s corner window. “When you’re nested inside the house, there are these layers of covered areas over you,” Dan says. “It’s subtle, but significantly effective.”

PBW Architects originally had more tweaks to the structure’s massing, but Shawn says the clients rightfully questioned the additional finessing. The pushback “made us be disciplined with how much we shifted and pivoted the shape and let us edit it down to the minimal number of moves needed,” he explains. “And the house definitely improved because of it.”

Custom steel paneling bounding the deck’s south edge provides both privacy and functionality. The panels act as an 85-inch-tall screen for more intimate gathering areas inside and outside of the main living area before it drops to handrail height alongside more public areas, guiding residents down to a lower-level patio and play space. Light and breezes permeate the panels through waterjet-cut vertical slots that widen in dimension for the more exposed recreational areas.

Textured Depth

Inside, the orchestration of light and pattern continues. On the house’s north side, PBW bumped out the main living space to create a narrow projection topped by a 25-foot-long skylight and capped by east- and west-facing windows. The sliver of daylight dynamically washes a feature milestone wall textured with epoxy-infused, trowel-on concrete that “grabs more natural light in a varied way,” Dan says. “That subtle natural light has a great impact on how you experience the space.”

Two additional skylights illuminate the otherwise enclosed stairwell and upstairs hallway. “In the morning, as you walk around in your pajamas, you still have that privacy until you choose to walk down the stairs and join the public space,” Shawn says.

The central stair wall continues the theme of striations, comprising vertical wood trim of varying widths and loosely spaced to recall the deck paneling as well as the striated exterior siding. Electric light glows softly through a few strategic gaps, creating a dappled effect that harkens to sunlight streaming through the deck panels.

Material Study

As they did with light and patterns, PBW Architects strove for material continuity between the outdoors and indoors. After a period of research, the designers found hemlock ceiling planks that had a warm and modern feel, matte finish, and crucially, an exterior rating that enables their use outdoors at soffits. For the kitchen and living area millwork, they specified beechwood with a similarly warm tone and tight grain; for window frames, they selected alderwood.

Dark, monolithic, porcelain floor tile and pavers and light quartzite backsplash and counters contrast with the varied, textural quality of the wood finishes. Interior designer and OreStudios owner and principal Andy Beers recommended furnishings with softer forms to balance the angular geometries of the house. PBW Architects and OreStudios also collaborated on selecting round and bulbous pendants to hover over the kitchen island and baby grand piano in the living room.

An 11-kilowatt rooftop array of photovoltaic panels offsets the family’s electrical usage by about half. The house also relies upon a high-efficiency hydronic floor heating system and an air-to-water heat pump.

Like the chill vibe of the Pacific Northwest, the Wallingford residence effortlessly balances transparency and privacy, the outdoors and indoors, and warmth and coolness. “There isn’t a bombardment of design ideas that are hitting you left and right as you’re engaging with the house,” Dan says. “It feels like an example of ‘just enough.’”

Wallingford

Seattle

Project Credits

Architect: Dan Wickline, principal architect; Shawn Kemna, project architect, Prentiss + Balance + Wickline Architects, Seattle

Builder: McKinstry Stauffer Yang Construction, Seattle

Interior Designer: OreStudios, Seattle

Landscape Architect: Outdoor Scenery Design, Portland, Oregon

Structural Engineer: OG Engineering, Seattle

Project Size: 3,223 square feet (3,713 square feet with garage)

Site Size: 5,699 square feet

Construction Cost: Withheld

Photography: Andrew Pogue Photography

Key Products

Cabinetry: Beech veneer

Ceiling and soffit: Hemlock

Cladding: Tight-knot cedar, stained in Benjamin Moore Arborcoat semi-solid in black; James Hardie

Countertops: Meta Marble & Granite quartzite (dining room, living room, kitchen); Caesarstone (elsewhere)

Deck Panels: Mild steel, powder coated

Doors/Windows: Kolbe Windows & Doors

Door Hardware: Emtek 

Faucets: Kohler

Flooring: Pental Surfaces; Northern Wide Plank

Grill: DCS by Fisher & Paykel Appliances

Interior Lighting: Muuto (living room); Roll & Hill (dining room); SkLO (kitchen island); Juno Lighting (recessed); Stickbulb (stairwell); Vistosi (powder room); Lutron (controls)

Sinks: Julien (kitchen island); Kohler (bar and bathrooms); Trueform Concrete (powder room)

Thermal and Moisture Barrier: VaproShield

Tile: Pental Surfaces (now Architectural Surfaces); Lungarno Ceramics; Ann Sacks

The post Case Study: Wallingford by Prentiss + Balance + Wickline appeared first on Residential Design.

Originally renovated on spec, the residence had a generic quality. “Our job was making it a custom project that was appropriate for them,” E.B. says. She and her team set out to refinish the two-story, 5,000-square-foot space into a serene refuge from the bustle of the city and a functional home for a growing family.

A Study of Contrasts

To create a calming atmosphere that embraces its natural light, the apartment follows a restrained palette of colors and materials that were not “particularly precious,” E.B. says. “The design is more about creating a holistic container for light and function.”

White, warm browns, and black predominate the space. White gypsum board wall and ceiling planes act as both a light reflector and a backdrop for Douglas fir millwork, rift-sawn white oak flooring, and black furniture and accents, as well as the owners’ extensive art collection.

Despite the largely monochromatic scheme, E.B. says, “you can still have a lot of variety and detail.” For example, a subtle debossed pattern on the black tile kitchen backsplash adds visual interest to the surrounding black Lapitec sintered stone countertops and sleek white FENIX laminate cabinetry.

The juxtaposition of the new materials with the original, rough-hewn timber structural beams and columns becomes another study of contrasts, this one in time periods. “We let things that are actually original be original, and then things that are new be new,” E.B. says.

Ironing Out Idiosyncrasies

One of the apartment’s disquieting elements was its “lumpy and bumpy” walls, E.B. says. In many multifamily buildings, she explains, contractors tend to indiscriminately wrap ductwork, columns, and beams in gypsum wallboard without questioning whether they can straighten the wall and ceiling surfaces. To soothe those anomalies, the design team incorporated those odd corners, bends, and soffits into purposeful work, storage, and play areas.

In bedrooms and corridors, they hid the faceted walls behind closet doors, creating much-needed storage. In the living room, they thickened the fireplace wall and recessed it between flanking shelves, carefully dimensioned to display items curated by the owners. The millwork integrates a slender ledge that runs the full wall length and also becomes the fireplace hearth.

A large soffit in the dining room became an ideal place under which to build compact workstations for the children, smoothing out another surface and fulfilling the clients’ specific request for a study area. “Everybody knows that even if you give a kid a desk in a bedroom, they end up doing their homework at the dining table,” E.B. says. The desks can hide behind white laminate paneling, which cleverly folds and tucks under the soffit to become quasi-partitions.

A window creates a visual break between the dining and kitchen areas, as well as between the two expanses of white floor-to-ceiling casework. The separation is helped by a custom, low-standing piece of Douglas fir cabinetry, which nests below the window and provides storage for organizing everyday items, like chargers. “We wanted it to look like furniture,” E.B. says, “and not like a piece of built-in casework.”

Adjusting the Staircase

Perhaps the most jarring element in the existing space was the apartment’s centrally located internal staircase. Its exposed steel stringer, open risers, glass railing, and revealed hardware felt strangely technical and modern for the historical, handcrafted interior.

Rebuilding or relocating the staircase were not feasible options. Like the rest of the interior update, Min Design deployed its less-invasive strategy of reskinning. The individual steel plate treads were clad in white oak to match the flooring and connected with white oak risers. Out went the glass railing and in came steel sheets (carried individually via the building elevator) that were welded in place and painted white. The result reads like a sculpture of folded origami.

To make use of the now-covered space underneath and behind the stair, which receives ample daylight from a window directly behind it, Min saw another opportunity for contrast and fun. She envisioned the crawl space leading into the back area as “a portal into another world for the kids to hang out and hide away.” Distinguished by its simple plywood construction, the entrance indeed welcomes anyone to squirrel away into a seating area basked in natural light.

A significant portion of the apartment refresh was completed before the pandemic, but the final elements came together in early fall 2022. E.B. is pleased with the quality of light, feeling of intimacy, and functionality of the apartment. Even in the double-height living room, she says, “it still feels like a place you can have friends over and not feel it was over-scaled.”

Tribeca Penthouse 

New York, New York 

Architect: E.B. Min, AIA, principal in charge; Melinda Turner, project architect, Min Design, San Francisco

Builder: Dowbuilt, New York, N.Y.

Interior Design: Min Design with owner

Project Size: 5,000 square feet

Photography: Brooke Holm

Key Products

Cabinetry: FENIX laminate over plywood; white stained Douglas fir (primary suite); Douglas fir (various open shelving); steel shelving (kitchen)

Cooktop/Range: Wolf

Cooking Ventilation: Rangecraft

Countertops: Lapitec (kitchen); Ibani Cerclo

Dishwasher/Ovens/Specialty: Miele

Door Hardware: FSB

Faucets: KWC; Fantini; Boffi; Waterworks; Dornbracht

Finish Materials: Corian glacier white windowsills

Interior Lighting: Marset; David Weeks (dining); Ladies & Gentlemen Studio; BDDW

Landscape Products: Planterworx

Paints: Benjamin Moore Simply White

Refrigerator/Freezer: Thermador

Tile: Mutina; Clé (laundry room)

Toilets: TOTO

Tubs: Agape (primary); Zuma Collection  (secondary)

Washer/Dryer: Electrolux

Window Shading Systems: J Geiger roller shades

Wine Refrigerator: Thermador

The post Case Study: Tribeca Penthouse by Min Design appeared first on Residential Design.

A napkin sketch of two connected volumes along with inspiration images of modern vernacular architecture shared by the husband helped shape Two Gables’ character and program of a glazed “pavilion” for large groupings flanked by a distinct “sleep shed” and a “living shed” for family gatherings, says WKA founding principal Dan Wheeler, FAIA.

The couple also wanted a fresh start from their previous residence of 25 years— a charming but creaky mid-19th-century Victorian that was the oldest house in town. “Our new home,” the wife explains, “was a reaction against what that house lacked and a very deliberate embracing of what we wanted looking forward: a home that would be efficient, logical, serene, and easy.”

With that directive, Laura says, “selecting the finishes was straightforward.” From Two Gables’ clean geometry to its muted palette and minimal number of materials, the design team created a sanctuary for the homeowners’ next chapter of life.

Setting the Scene

WKA initially oriented the residence along an east-west axis on the 1-acre site with a ravine to the west and north. A climb on a tall ladder just prior to the foundation pour led Laura to suggest twisting the house clockwise—still within its zoning envelope—to better frame views from the living shed through the property’s soaring oak trees. The twist also increased privacy from the street in the front and created a visual separation from the pool house in the back. “It breaks the recreational aspect away from the residential,” Dan says. Though the family thoroughly enjoys the pool, Laura adds, “it isn’t something you want to necessarily look at year-round.”

To bring as much natural light inside, the rear elevation is primarily glazed, providing breathtaking views of the lush backyard. On the façade, one prominent window on each shed opens the couple’s individual offices to views of the surrounding garden, designed by Scott Byron & Co. 

Cognizant of the local climate, WKA prudently insulated solid wall portions with 3 inches of mineral wool and 4 inches of closed-cell foam for a combined R-value of 35. An air cavity formed by a Knight Wall Systems rainscreen standing nearly 5 inches from the wall sheathing provides an additional insulating air pocket, as well as a chase for downspouts.

Accoya’s acetylated wood siding by Delta Millworks arranged in a stack bond with ¼-inch joints creates the monochromatic exterior while also dictating the sizes and locations of the home’s deep windows and discreet garage door. “There was a lot of coordination there,” Laura says.

Interior Serenity

The quiet exterior palette continues inside Two Gables. Acetylated wood siding appears as wall and door finishes, still with the ¼-inch tolerance. Ceilings, walls, millwork, and surfaces are largely white. The homeowners’ aversion to area rugs led WKA to delineate programmatic spaces with white oak flooring, treated to mute its inherently warm hue and inset within large-format porcelain tile that emulates concrete.

In the glazed pavilion, a series of acetylated blade shutters rotates collectively to provide natural light or, conversely, privacy. An accent wall finished in Venetian plaster intersects with custom millwork that morphs from a fireplace hearth into the top of a server and then into bench seating. A clay-lime product applied to the millwork creates the semblance of a continuous concrete surface, a treatment that was repeated for the powder room sink.

Noticeably absent is the presence of building system infrastructure. “As with all of our work,” Wheeler says, “we try to hide mechanical grilles and so forth.” A gap between the pavilion ceiling and wall perimeter both creates the look of a floating plane and vents return air for the residence and exhaust for the fireplace.

The vaulted ceilings of the sheds are finished in white-painted wood planks, gapped to dampen noise in the imperceptible black duct liner above. “The two things that are least understood and most impactful in residential design are acoustics and lighting,” Dan says. “There’s nothing more disturbing than having a party where people can’t hear themselves and then say, ‘Who designed this thing?’”

Lighting designer Lux Populi helped ensure track light fixtures and downlights are subtle, scarce, and deliberately located at functional, seating, and display areas. Wall washers highlight the couple’s art collection, which provides pops of colors against the muted backdrop. The balance of luminaires includes both sculptural statement pieces and paper globe pendants that helped keep the project on budget, Dan says. 

The globe pendants are strategically suspended to give the husband clear views from his second-floor office to the backyard beyond and to the multipurpose “coffee house”—kitchen and seating areas—below. “He loves his wife, and he wants to see her as much as possible,” Dan explains. “If she’s at the breakfast table, watching TV, or in the kitchen, they’re both within this triumvirate space where everything feels cozy and intimate.”

Two Gables

Glencoe, Illinois 

Architect: Dan Wheeler, FAIA, principal; Erica Ulin, AIA, project architect; Laura Cochran, project team, Wheeler Kearns Architects, Chicago

Builder: Power Construction, Chicago

Landscape Architect: Scott Byron & Company, Inc., Glencoe, Illinois

Structural Engineer: Enspect Engineering, Merrillville, Indiana

Lighting Designer: Lux Populi

Project Size: 8,697 square feet

Site Size: 1.03 acres

Construction Cost: Withheld

Photography: Kendall McCaugherty, Hall + Merrick + McCaugherty

Key Products

Cooking Appliances: Wolf

Cooking Ventilation: BlueStar

Countertops: Corian Entry Doors: Ashland Millwork

Dishwasher: Bosch

Exterior Finish: Senergy stucco

Faucets: Kohler

Flooring: White oak by Carlisle

Garage Doors: Raynor Garage Door with custom detailing

Hardware: Accurate with FSB lever trim

Lighting: Juno, BEGA

Lighting Control: Lutron

Outdoor Grill: Lynx Grills

Paints: Benjamin Moore

Rainscreen: Delta Millwork Accoya over Knight Wall System

Refrigerator: Sub-Zero

Roofing: PAC-CLAD Petersen standing seam; single-ply membrane

Sliding Doors: LaCantina Doors

Tile: Tithof Tile

Washer/Dryer: LG

Windows: Marvin

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In fact, the owners were initially divided on the purchase. The husband loved its half-acre lot in the Chicago’s North Shore neighborhood. The wife envisioned a more bright and open home. A recommendation from their landscape architect, Doug Hoerr, led them to Stuart Cohen, FAIA, and Julie Hacker, FAIA, whose work has been described as “traditional” by modernist architects and “modern” by classical architects. In other words, Cohen & Hacker Architects was perfect for transforming the residence.

“The house was in such rough shape that it probably would have been a teardown,” Julie says. The city does not landmark buildings, she adds, “so it is up to clients and their architects to save the historic fabric of the community.”

Wayfinding Reset

Julie and Stuart began the gut renovation by reconfiguring the movement and flow through the house. Out went its rear wing, which included an attached garage. In went a two-story addition with a kitchen, breakfast area, family room, and stair down to a newly finished and full-height basement, and an arbor-topped breezeway that leads to a new detached garage.

On the second floor, a primary bedroom suite replaced a low-ceilinged servant’s quarters accessed by an intermediate staircase. Removing this stair to keep the entire second floor—existing and new—on one level, coupled with modern code requirements for higher railings, led to significant rework of the main staircase. The project preserved the stair’s intricate wood detailing by extending the profile of existing balusters and topping new newel posts with finials that matched the existing.

To imbue a modern feel into the traditional architecture, Stuart and Julie relocated room openings from wall centers to corners or edges. “This interconnects the spaces in a way that wasn’t typical of traditional architecture,” Stuart says, “but was the way that classical 20th-century modern architecture worked in terms of making open plans.” 

Material Makeover

Tudor Redux’s bright palette of whites and grays is the most immediately visible change from the original house. “Our first instinct is not to paint all the woodwork,” Stuart acknowledges, but bleaching and then re-staining the dark trim was not a surefire win for a lot of work.

The architects drew from the existing trim profiles to create a consistent look across old and new spaces. The trim also signals if spaces are to be experienced as continuous or discontinuous. For example, trim that wraps a wall opening and enters the next room suggests continuity between the spaces. Like Frank Lloyd Wright’s use of decorative elements in his early Prairie architecture, Stuart says, “it’s always in support of a spatial reading rather than an elaboration of surface.”

No wonder that the firm’s interior architecture often feels like “cabinetry,” Julie says. “The trim is so figured out that it becomes background.” Nothing sticks out as awkward or overthought.

Ceiling work also subtly delineates spaces. Wood beams create a spacious grid in the family room but run closely in parallel in the kitchen. The homeowners requested white stone for the kitchen, but Julie, demurring at specifying materials that easily stain— like marble— chose Laminam, a ceramic surfacing product made in Italy that emulates the look of stone. Though some people snub faux materials, both the architects and owners were pleased. “I laid out the panels as I would with marble slabs, the product cleans easily, and they look great,” Julie says.

Along with updating the MEP systems, the project opened the original plaster walls to add insulation to meet modern energy standards. Wood Thermopane windows replaced the single-glazed, steel casement windows everywhere but at the main stair. There, the architects preserved the distinctive stepping windows, which contain several violet-tinted glass lites, and painted their dark wood surround in blue-gray.

Outdoor Charm

Along with painting the exterior trim gray, the owners wanted the house’s extensive red-brown brick changed to creamy white. This decision proved serendipitous, as the masonry paint masked slight color variations between new and old brick, helping the addition appear original to the architecture. The lighter hue also accentuated the projecting brick stretchers, arranged in a pattern that matched the existing.

Also key to the cohesive look of the project was Julie’s and Stuart’s decision to keep the addition massing simple. The west elevation retains an original gable and the stepping windows. Then, Julie says, “you just quiet down the rest of it.” 

Some architects might go the other direction, Stuart notes with a laugh. “Why do one gable or two when you can do six?”

“That’s what gives traditional architecture a bad rap,” Julie says knowingly. “When it goes awry, it really goes awry. In our work, it’s all about editing.”

Tudor Redux 

Kenilworth, Illinois

Project Credits

Architect/Builder: Stuart Cohen, FAIA, and Julie Hacker, FAIA; Brad Korando, Stuart Cohen & Julie Hacker Architects, LLC, Evanston, Illinois

Builder: C&P Remodeling, Wheeling, Illinois

Interior designer: MCDesign, LLC

Landscape architect: Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, Chicago

Lighting Designer: AKLD Lighting Design, LTD, Wilmette, Illinois

Project size: 2,250 square feet (addition); 4,200 square feet (remodeling)

Site size: 0.5 acre

Construction cost: $500 a square foot

Photography: Tony Soluri (after); VHT Studio (before)

Key Products

Cabinetry/millwork/moldings/trim: Designed by Cohen & Hacker, fabricated by Paoli Woodworking

Countertops: Laminam (kitchen), calacatta (bathrooms)

Door Hardware: Baldwin (exterior doors), Frank Allart/Chicago Brass (interior doors)

Faucets/Fittings: Perrin & Rowe (kitchen), Lefroy Brooks (primary bath), Waterworks (secondary baths)

Fireplace: Earthcore modular (bedroom, family room)

Kitchen Appliances: Wolf, Miele, Sub-Zero

Sinks: Rohl, Lefroy Brooks (primary bath), Waterworks (secondary baths)

Tile: Waterworks

Toilets: Kohler

Wine Refrigerator: Sub-Zero

Windows: Pella

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The Studio 804 program has built dozens of homes and other buildings over its nearly 30-year history, each more polished and impressive than the last. Although entirely student built with Dan at the helm, they are indistinguishable from the work of veteran residential architects and custom builders. 

“If it’s not perfect I’ll make them take it all out and do it again,” says Dan. “I tell them, if it’s not done perfectly, you will embarrass me, the program, and yourselves.” Instead of embarrassing anyone, the program has won many national design awards in competition with seasoned professionals. 

Part of how they achieve this high level of execution is by keeping the forms straightforward, and by designing and building multiple mockups before they tackle the real thing. Dan does not encourage them to design amoebas and then try to figure out how to build them. After all, these are speculative projects that require a broader appeal—they have to sell for a fair price to fund the next year’s project. 

“I prefer something that is minimal and stripped back and that’s how I guide them,” he says. “And I’m not going to work on a building I don’t like.” Apart from aesthetics, many of the design decisions here were dictated by the constraints of the lot. It has two neighboring buildings impinging on its setbacks, which had scared away opportunistic developers without the vision to conquer the flaws. 

The challenge was to gain breathing room for outdoor entertaining space on the ground level, along with requisite parking. The team’s solution was to build the first level smaller than the second. The upside-down plan carves out enough space on site for a covered patio, parking, and a detached garage. Partially pushed into the 11% slope, the smaller first level contains two flexible rooms, a bathroom, and a mechanical room for the home’s sophisticated systems. The entrance is several steps below grade. 

Hovering over the patio space, the second level comprises an open living/dining area, a commodious deck, and main bedroom suite with a walk-in closet and a smaller deck perfect for two. During the course of the day, the sun tracks from the east-facing main bedroom to the west-facing great room, ensuring that all the spaces optimize their solar exposure, while remaining shaded by their deck overhangs.

Although the main bedroom faces the street, the orientation “puts the living area in the canopy of trees,” Dan explains. “It was an orphan lot, but a beautiful site three blocks from downtown. You can walk to the university and, at the end of our street, you’re able to access the Lawrence Loop, a 20-plus mile walking/running trail.”

As Dan and his fifth-year architecture students have perfected their formula, one area that has benefited greatly is the interior fit and finish of the houses—an aspect of homebuilding that challenges even the professionals. Yes, the forms of the houses are fairly straightforward, but the interiors do not lack ambition. 

Custom light maple veneer cabinetry lines the entry-level walls, offering plenty of storage and streamlining the entertaining spaces on the upper level. The warmth of the wood, also applied to the stairs, balances the practicality of budget-minded polished concrete floors. Upstairs, the custom cabinetry reappears, along with tongue-and-groove maple plank flooring, in contrast with dark Richlite kitchen counters and custom metal railings and passage doors.

Lower-level siding, soffits, and decks are sassafras and the upper-level siding is phenolic, high-pressure laminate from Austria. Solar panels supply most of the power needs of the house, which is heated and cooled by mini-splits, and an ERV replenishes fresh air in the super-insulated house. Stormwater is managed with a green roof on the garage, permeable surfacing for the driveway, and a rain garden.

Given all these high-performance features, the sophisticated design, and the proximity to the best aspects of intown living in Lawrence, it’s no wonder 519 Indiana sold before the open house—to experienced buyers. “Our demographic is no longer first-time buyers—there are plenty of programs that support that. Our demographic is usually a second- or third-time buyer. Sometimes they’re looking toward retirement,” says Dan. 

“519 sold to two faculty who came here from Texas—a co-hire for the university. They already had a house in Texas that had solar collectors, so they knew about what we were doing and were happy to jump right in. Their August heating bill—our heaviest load here—was 83 cents.”

519 Indiana

Lawrence, Kansas

Project Credits

Architect/Builder: Studio 804, Lawrence, Kansas

Project Size: 2,060 square feet (house); 400 square feet (garage)

Site Size: 0.13 acre

Construction Cost: Withheld

Photography: Corey Gaffer Photography

Key Products

Appliances: GE Café

Bath Ventilation: Broan

Cabinetry: Custom by Studio 804

Cabinetry Hardware: Linnea

Cladding: Fundermax

Counters: Richlite

Decking: Robi Decking

Doors/Door Hardware: Masonite, TownSteel

Fasteners: Simpson Strong-Tie

Faucets: Elkay (kitchen), Duravit

Foundation: Stego vapor barrier

Garage Doors: Amarr

Humidity Control: Broan ERV

HVAC: Samsung mini-splits

Lighting: ConTech Lighting

Lighting Control: Convergence

Paints/Coatings: STEEL-IT, Sherwin-Williams, Minwax

Pavers: Oldcastle

Photovoltaics: Qcells

Roofing: GAF, Stellar, OMG Roofing Products

Roof Windows/Skylights: VELUX

Tile: Daltile

Vanities/Lavs/Sinks: Duravit, Elkay (kitchen)

Windows: Quaker Commercial

Window Wall Systems: Archon Fenestration Technology

The post Case Study: 519 Indiana by Studio 804 appeared first on Residential Design.

It awaits the return by ferry of architects Charles Haver, AIA, Stewart Skolnick, AIA, and their dog Keeper from their full-time home and work in Connecticut. The weekend home, Pointer Perch, is named for Keeper’s breed, and it’s the culmination of years of learning how the family likes to live on vacation. 

“We had a second home on Fire Island and it was low maintenance, really simple, and very small,” Stewart explains. “We outgrew Fire Island and were looking for a different lifestyle. Real estate on Fire Island was very soft, so it took a long time to sell the house and that served us well, because we had time to think about what we really needed in our next house. 

“It was a two-bedroom residence, and the truth was, we didn’t have a lot of guests and the second bedroom was not really being used,” he continues. “It made us evaluate what we really did need. And that was just a very simple one-bedroom with an open living space.”

“We knew we wanted a small house, and we knew we needed to be up high to get the views,” Charles adds. “That led us to the upside-down plan. It’s very unusual to have the public rooms weighted toward the top, but we were basically making a tower to look out.” 

The “upside-down” floor plan places the living space, compact kitchen, and powder room at the top level. The main level contains a single bedroom, full bath, laundry room, and the entry hall. And an open lower level functions as a mudroom and storage area for all the appurtenances of beachside life. 

Exterior materials were selected with low-maintenance and durability first and foremost, but, of course, aesthetics were never far from mind. “We chose Alaskan yellow cedar because we wanted a material we could use on both the walls and the roof,” says Stewart. “Usually people go with red and white cedar for roof and walls, but it never weathers the same. The only painted surfaces are the lower door and front door. The windows are aluminum clad in a dark gray. We had to deal with a whole list of coastal proximity code issues, and every week there is at least one day when you have gale-force winds. But we worked with a very conservative engineer and the structure is very robust. You don’t really feel those winds inside.”

The architects kept the interiors crisp and spare. Says Charles, who also runs an antiques business, “We wanted them to serve as a backdrop for European antiques and Modern art. The floors are white oak in a combination of rift and quartersawn, with just a water-based sealer. It looks like almost no finish on the floors. And the horizontal planking has a nickel gap. We had everything—including the furniture and artwork—in place on move-in day, as we do with our clients.”

Although the skinny house, as the locals call it, is a mere 1,200 square feet, the architects’ meticulous detailing took 18 months to build. “We know as architects, the first thing to do is find the best builder possible,” says Stewart. “Our builder has been working on the island for 30 years. But we asked him how long it would take to build, and he said nine months. We told him, double it.” Unsurprisingly, the architects were spot on.

Pointer Perch

Fishers Island, New York

Project Credits

Architect/Interior Designer: Charles M. Haver, AIA, and Stewart R. Skolnick, AIA, Haver & Skolnick Architects, Roxbury, Connecticut

Landscape Architect: Charles M. Haver, AIA , Stewart R. Skolnick, AIA, Haver & Skolnick Architects in association with Jeff Edwards, Race Rock Garden Co., Fishers Island, New York

Builder/Cabinetmaker: Skip Broom, H P Broom Housewright, Hadlyme, Connecticut

Structural Engineer: Kevin Chamberlain, DeStefano & Chamberlain, Fairfield, Connecticut

Mechanical Engineer: Delbert Smith, CES Engineering, Middletown, Connecticut

Project Size: 1,200 square feet

Site Size: 3.1 acres

Construction Cost: $1,500 a square foot

Photography: Robert Benson Photography

Key Products

Cladding/Millwork/Moulding/Trim: Alaskan yellow cedar

Counters/backsplash/shelves: Honed Calacatta Oro Marble

Decking: Custom ipe

Dishwasher: Bosch

Entry Doors: Custom mahogany by Fairfield County Millwork, Bethany, Connecticut

Faucets: Newport brass (kitchen), Phylrich, Sonoma Forge (outdoor shower)

Flooring: Rift and quartersawn white oak

HVAC: Mitsubishi heat pumps

Lighting: Bevolo (exterior); Dennis & Leen, Paul Ferrante, Lantern Masters, Hacienda Lights

Lighting Control: Lutron

Paints: Benjamin Moore

Range: KitchenAid

Refrigerator: Bosch

Sinks: Franke (kitchen); Signature Hardware (primary); Cheviot (powder)

Toilets: TOTO

Wallboard: Custom painted tulip poplar wallboards

Washer/Dryer: Miele

Water filtration: Aquasana

Windows/French Doors: Loewen

The post Case Study: Pointer Perch by Haver & Skolnick Architects appeared first on Residential Design.

This effect is achieved any number of ways, from the proportional relationships between walls, windows, and ceiling, to the cohesive use of materials and color. Even more striking than the assemblage of these elements is the relationship between the natatorium and its surroundings. Its orientation is due south, on axis with Mount Ascutney, a volcanic mountain that rises from the Connecticut River Valley in southeastern Vermont. 

The emphasis on the outdoors reflects the priorities of the owner, who, perhaps impractically, envisioned a solarium type of building with an infinity pool. “The client’s basic request was for an indoor swimming place that would be a separate destination from the house and used year-round,” says Smith & Vansant Architects principal Pi Smith, AIA. “She wanted it to have great views, and the exterior needed to match the language of the original house. It was meant to be a draw for her two children who are in their 20s and on the cusp of having families of their own.”

Designed around a 40-by-14-foot pool, the gabled, timber frame building is clad in shingles that reference the style of the main house. The long bar-shaped footprint contains the pool, where a 24-foot-wide-by-11-foot-high bifold glass door system brings in the mountain view to the south. A smaller wing on the north houses the supporting spaces—kitchenette, bath and sauna, changing room, laundry, and mechanical access, with an octagonal inglenook at its center. The inglenook’s small custom table and built-in upholstered seating gaze across the pool—through the expansive glass doors to a stone terrace and the mountain beyond. On the east side of the house, a gable-roof front porch frames this view on approach.

High Handed

Before they began sketching, the architects had spent some time looking at precedents. “What we mostly learned was what not to do,” Pi says. “You have to think about the proportions of the space. We knew the pool had to be 40 feet long and have space around it for the pool deck. That’s almost a barn shape, long and narrow, and if the walls aren’t tall enough, the space can look squat and underlit. The other thing that struck us was that discontinuities between wall and ceiling finishes reinforced those proportional issues.” 

The result of these studies is a tall volume that relates to the length of the pool, with continuous fir wrapping the walls and exposed truss ceiling under a SIP roof. Rather than having a flat ceiling plane implied by the bottom of the trusses, they were designed to lift in the center. Their lines reflect the flat deck around the pool; the trusses go up where the pool goes down. The windows look normally sized in this context, but in fact are quite large—3 feet, 6 inches wide by 8 feet, 3 inches tall. Window and door heads are about 11 feet high, and 8-by-8-inch columns sit inboard of the foot-thick wall.

“The client didn’t want to see structural brackets, so we introduced a steel moment frame,” says project architect Stephen Blanchflower, AIA. “The timber frame roof is truly carrying the load, but the walls are supplemented with steel for lateral and vertical stability.”

This is a relatively unusual building type for northern New England, and it was not without challenges, such as keeping the indoors warm in the winter while avoiding condensation build-up. “She didn’t want to see any of the heating elements required to keep windows like this from fogging up in the winter,” Stephen says. 

Warm air washes the triple-pane glass window wall through custom wood grilles, while return-air grilles are incorporated into stained glass panels above some of the doors, keeping the mechanical trappings out of sight. 

HVAC equipment is housed in the basement of the north wing, and ductwork runs beneath the pool deck and behind the walls. Stone floors have radiant heat, and a copper ion system sanitizes the pool water, reducing the need for chlorine, along with its smell.

Handmade

The owner’s preference for salvaged and locally fabricated fixtures is evident inside and out. Custom fir storage benches and a fir bath vanity support the timber theme, while shimmering art glass, a locally made weathervane depicting her daughter swimming, and the cupola’s undulating green shingles are nautical motifs. The exterior trim colors—Benjamin Moore Essex Green and Tarrytown Green— echo those on the main house. 

Similar jungle-green hues on the kitchen cabinetry and custom furniture weave the interiors together. The client was consistent in her rejection of visible modern technology, such as recessed lights. All the light fixtures are decorative Arts and Crafts style in a variety of patinated finishes, including mother-of-pearl push-button light switches. William Morris wallpaper wraps the bath and changing room, where a salvaged, intricately patterned stained glass window adds an artisanal touch. Local craftspeople built the fireplace and made the copper kitchen counters and inglenook tabletop. With its deep trough, angled front, and built-in soap niche, the 100-year-old kitchen sink imparts its own rich character.

Only a few items were imported, like the inglenook’s custom mosaics from Beirut, Lebanon. “We sketched out many ideas with the client,” Stephen says. “She wanted the mosaics to pick up some of the wildflowers she is cultivating on the site. Working with the lighting designer, we also incorporated some of those elements into the light fixtures.” The quartzite flooring from India is another anomaly. “It’s perfect for this kind of environment because it transfers radiant heat to your feet,” Stephen says, “and it’s got some clefts and bumps that make it a good nonslip surface for wet areas.” 

The alchemy effect of all these elements surprised even the architects. “One aspect of the design that we really only understood after we spent a day there on a photo shoot was how dramatic the reflections in the water would be,” Pi says. “During the day they track the sun, amplify the landscape, and scatter rippling patterns on the ceiling. At night the lights are reflected in both the surface of the pool and in the windows. The boundaries of floor and walls, and inside and outside, are blurred. The space feels weightless and transparent, and the pool seems infinitely deep.” What more could you ask of a pool house?

Natatorium

Eastern Vermont

Architect: Pi Smith, AIA, principal, Smith & Vansant Architects, White River Junction, Vermont

Builder:O’Hara & Gercke, White River Junction, Vermont

Swimming pool: Northeast Pools & Spas, Sharon, Vermont

Post and beam frame and SIPS: Davis Frame Co., Claremont, New Hampshire

Masonry: Olde World Masonry, West Burke, Vermont

Custom casework and furniture: Hitchcock Woodworking, Hartford, Vermont

Custom Upholstery: Zimman’s

Interior lighting fabricator: High Beams Lighting, Sutton, Vermont 

Project size: 2,250 square feet

Site size: 152 acres

Photography: Rob Karosis

Key Products

Art glass: Youghiogheny Glass

Beverage refrigerator: Sub-Zero

Cabinet hardware: Rejuvenation

Cladding: Maibec cedar shingles, Olde World Masonry

Countertops:V ermont Soapstone Co.

Dishwasher: Bosch

Door hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware, Ashley Norton 

Entry doors: Custom salvage fir

Exterior Steel Door System: Optimum Window Manufacturing 

Flooring: Best Tile Udaipur Quartzite

Icemaker: XO Appliance

Interior doors: BROSCO

Interior and exterior lighting: Arroyo Craftsman

Mosaics: Custom from Mozaico

Paints: Benjamin Moore

Plumbing fixtures: House of Rohl

Roofing: Drexel

Soapstone sink and stained glass window: Vermont Salvage Exchange

Sauna heater: HUUM 

Shower tile: Fireclay

Toilet: American Standard

Wallpaper: William Morris

Windows: Marvin 

The post Case Study: Natatorium by Smith & Vansant Architects appeared first on Residential Design.