We all know good architecture when we see it. But verbalizing what makes a house extraordinary is something different. It may be a cozy window seat so perfectly executed you wish you had a good book and a cup of tea. Perhaps it’s the details of a traditional fireplace mantle. Or maybe it is the absence of structure itself that inspires—a bank of windows blurring the distinction between indoors and out.
Whatever it is, there is something about the best in residential design that has the power to transcend our typical notions of what houses can be. Once again this year, Chesapeake Home + Living teamed up with the American Institute of Architects Baltimore Chapter to recognize some of this year’s finest.
Nineteen entries running the gamut of styles from urban chic to breezy bungalows were submitted this year from Maryland-based architects, and judges–David Cronrath, AIA, of University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Anthony Consoli, AIA, of DNC Architects, Inc.; and Darragh Brady, AIA, of Zieger/Snead Architects—selected four outstanding projects to receive the Distinctive Residential Architecture award.
Photo by Elijah Northern
URBAN METAMORPHOSIS
Alexander Design Studio | brokenboxes.com or 410-465-8207
Able and non-able bodies are easily accommodated here. There is an interesting juxtaposition of volumes that change the typology of the row home. –David Conrath, AIA
The reconversion of this Baltimore townhouse from four apartments back to a single family home for a Russian history professor with mobility issues and a World Bank executive presented challenges of both physical and visual connection, according to Charles Alexander, principal of Alexander Design Studio.
At only 17 feet wide, yet with nearly 5,000 square feet of livable floor space, this house in the center of the block was lacking in light, accessibility, and organizational clarity. “The combination of the couple’s unique needs and their extensive collections of art and artifacts gave us a lot to work with,” says Alexander.
A garage addition at the rear allows an accessible entrance to the basement level with the addition of a ramp and access to the rest of the house via the elevator. To solve the issue of light and exterior access, the primary living spaces were moved to the second floor, allowing both a large outdoor terrace as well as a double-story atrium. A second atrium connecting the entry and the main floor allows for the display of large artifacts.
Photo by Patrick Ross
CONTEMPORARY REDESIGN
Alexander Design Studio | brokenboxes.com or 410-465-8207
This design is being sensitive to an older, traditional aesthetic, but with a modern vocabulary. The addition is a contextual solution that isn’t a slave to style. –David Conrath, AIA
The primary objective of this addition was to transform a classic 1920s Baltimore residence into a home for 21st century family living. “The client’s commitment to modern design allowed us to challenge the constraints of the typical traditional approach to this type of project,” says Alexander.
The sloping topography on the kitchen end of the home provided the solution for the owner’s desired three-car garage. The orientation of the house was flipped, moving the driveway and formal entrance to the street side and allowing access to the house’s basement level. The garage could then be slipped under the first level of the addition, simultaneously reducing the addition’s footprint and creating a separate, casual family entrance.
Among the most significant of several changes to the existing house is the redesign of the main stair, which was relocated to one side of the center hall, allowing for a greater flow of space through the home and to the site beyond. The result is a home that balances the traditional design of the original home with a complementary, but spatially opposite modern addition that accommodates a contemporary lifestyle. “It’s very clean and very elegant,” juror Anthony Consoli says of the project.
Photo by Julia Heine
ELEGANT SIMPLICITY
McInturff Architects | mcinturffarchitects.com or 301-229-3705
I like how the design opens to the south and the use of existing materials. –Anthony Consoli, AIA
This house in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts engages its wooded site through terraced gardens, a large south-facing porch, and a wall of glass. The garden walls were built with stone salvaged from the foundations of a nearby ruin, and extend from the site through the house, organizing the interior spaces along the way. “It’s a very simple form,” says Mark McInturff, principal of McInturff Architects. “The outside references a rural barn, while the inside demonstrates great complexity.”
The simple form of the house, clad in copper and cedar shingles and with mahogany-framed windows, connects the house to equally simple New England precedents. “It’s very elegantly done,” says juror Darragh Brady.
Photo by Julia Heine
LITERARY TRANSFORMATION
McInturff Architects | mcinturffarchitects.com or 301-229-3705
This design takes a 1920s bungalow and makes it more continuous, rather than cellular. –David Conrath, AIA
It is the proposition of this project that a house can be transformed through select, delicate, and adaptable interventions rather than wholesale renovation, that makes this project so unique, according to McInturff. An existing 1920s Washington, DC bungalow has been transformed into a home library for literary clients through a series of strategic, non-structural interventions, each designed to accommodate domestic functions within the unchanged framework of the house.
“We basically remodeled the house without remodeling it. We went room by room and designed a series of elements, such as bookshelves and benches,” says McInturff. “We made each room fit its purpose better. It’s really a cross between furniture and architecture.”
A “kit of parts” made of steel angles, aluminum sheets, glass, and hardwood is used to create a fireplace, a television nook, bookshelves, CD storage, a desk, bench stair railing, and a credenza. Through the addition of these pieces, and by extending them throughout the house as needed, the use and experience of the house has been transformed in an economical and responsible way.
L’Oreal Thompson is the Assistant Editor for Chesapeake Home + Living.
To learn more about AIABaltimore, please visit aiabalt.com or call 410-625-2585.
