A loft house that reveals the understated beauty of a metal building system
Doug Larson, AIA, had wanted to build a loft house for quite awhile, and even investigated the opportunity on property he owned in Upstate New York, but the housing industry collapse squashed the chance. Then, when a long-time client that his firm, Larson and Paul Architects, New York City, had done retail work for found property in the Hamptons, he seized the chance. And this time, he decided to investigate the chance to do the loft house using a metal building system. “Why isn’t anybody taking a Butler building, which has a clear span, and making houses out of those?” he asked.
That investigation and research led through Butler Manufacturing, Kansas City, Mo., to Art Hance, president, Hance Construction Inc., Washington, N.J. Hance has a reputation for pushing the limits on metal building systems. “I really enjoy it,” says Hance. “We’re always figuring out ways to do things with pre-engineered metal buildings that nobody else wants to do.”
The result is a high-end, custom home that is part of a residential enclave, which includes a pool house and a guest house. The judges appreciated the effort to bring the metal building system technology into the residential market and the way the metal framing is expressed on the interior. One judge says, “It makes steel a more elegant part of the interior aesthetic.”
Solving the Problem
Revealing the frame on the interior created specific problems that took the design team and Hance quite awhile to work out. Michael Fasulo, RA, Larson and Paul Architects, worked closely with Hance to figure out the details of the framing. Hance says: “The architect. It’s all about them. They really created a wonderful project and we just figured out a way to build it. They did the artistic part. We love working with someone on projects such as this.”
“Between Michael and Art, they worked out the structure of the building,” Larson says. “I wanted to see the framing members. I didn’t want a lot of Sheetrock boxes.” One of the biggest issues was bracing. Because of the open framing and the desire to use structural insulated panels (SIPs) between framing members, they needed to design heavy wind posts in the corners to stabilize the frame.
“Butler indulges us,” says Hance. “We rely on their engineering. We do the design, and have the experience to say, ‘hey, try this.'”
The Result
The house is laid out with two parallel wings on opposite ends of a main living area with a high, vaulted ceiling. The designers embraced the idea of the metal framing and expressed it in other areas as well. “We weren’t sure what we were going to get with the bolted connections,” Larson says. In the end the galvanized pieces are revealed and they even left the mill stamps on the steel.
The interior doors pick upon the aesthetic, using sliding barn doors that hang from metal fasteners, which are also exposed. The barn doors allow for large openings to emphasize the clear space of the metal building system.
The metal building system combined with the SIPs permitted a very fast build process and delivered a very energy-efficient building envelope. The roof system includes SIPs, laid out on knotty pine sheathing across the metal purlins. The knotty pine is visible from inside. The roof is clad with Dutch Lock standing seam metal roof panels from ATAS International, Allentown, Pa.
The palette accentuates the simplicity of the metal building system and the large, uncluttered forms. Limited trim work, concrete tiles, simple stones and oak flooring all evoke a more rural aesthetic that shows in all the buildings.
The Rest of the Enclave
The guest house, which was a renovation of an existing structure, also included the ATAS metal roof system, while the pool roof was a very simple corrugated metal roof, reflecting even more succinctly the idea of rural roots. According the Hance, the reroof of the guest house required considerable attention to flashing detail, which was complicated by the many angles of the roof.
Unlike many enclaves, the three buildings cluster around a meadow. “Typically,” Larson says, “the main house stands at the center with the other buildings surrounding it.” Still, the main house captures the attention and sets the tone for the aesthetics of the entire enclave. The simplicity of the metal building system and how it is revealed captured the judge’s attention.
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Steel House, North Haven, N.Y.
Completed: November 2014
Total square footage: 4,500 square feet
General contractor: West Neck Builders, Southampton, N.Y.
Architect: Larson and Paul Architects LLP, New York City
Metal building contractor: Hance Construction Inc., Washington, N.J.
Metal building system: Butler Manufacturing, Kansas City, Mo., www. butlermfg.com
Metal roofing: ATAS International Inc., Allentown, Pa., www.atas.com
