Photo: Mark Schatz, FAIA
The owners of a private residence wanted to build a small dream home that would focus on quality over quantity, and incorporate different zones of spatial feeling and material expressiveness. The owners desired a refined industrial aesthetic for the house. Located in a first-ring older suburb undergoing upscale transformation with mansions, the house has a deep lot with several garden spaces and an overall small scale.
M + A Architecture Studio designed the 2,300-square-foot house with a series of interconnected pavilions of varying materials and different spatial characters. The street approach is a series of layered planes, providing a front porch with a sense of privacy. The entry compresses into a tight vestibule niche and utility core which expands into a broad horizontal living area that visually extends into the landscape. There is a water garden to one side, outdoor porches and an English-style garden to the back. The master suite is a small space and adjoins the water garden. The stairs is a dramatic sculptural element that drops down from a two-and-a-half-story slice through the center of the building. It is top lit through clerestory windows. Upstairs includes additional bedrooms and a bathroom, reading room and an additional porch.
Smooth Corten sheets and metal tiles in a diamond pattern were used to articulate the building masses and forms. Paired with exposed structural steel framing, cast-in-place concrete, the building materials create a distinct set of textures, and light and shadow patterns.
For the tiles, Ideal Roofing LLC installed McElroy Metal’s 24-gauge S-deck siding tiles in Galvalume. The metal tiles are folded and interlocking in a diamond pattern with concealed connection clips.
Corten, supplied by Triple-S Steel Holdings Inc., was used for exterior accent cladding and interior cladding on a two-story fireplace volume. Ideal Roofing installed 16-gauge Corten flat sheets with fasteners fixed with epoxy and painted black.
