Alter Urban

BIG IDEA
ARCHITECTURE		PUBLIC + PRIVATE
On a rare empty lot in Northwest DC, the new house mediates between public formality and private personality. A high stone facade is respectful to the neighborhood and screens the main house from the street. Inside, the courtyard and its adjoining rooms create a dynamic and transparent space that reflects the owner’s open demeanor and more casual expression.
		SIMPLE + MODERN
Phase - Completed June 2008 Size - 9,500 SF Program - 4 Bedrooms, 4 Baths, Pool House, Billiard Room, Home Theater, Home Gym, Home Office, Butler's Pantry Collaborators - Rosenthal Homes, Ewing Noble Winn, Scott Guenther, Thorne Rankin & Assoc., Yavuz Goncu Related Projects - The Atrium









In order to clearly establish the distinction between public and private, we developed a series of walls and thresholds which become successively more transparent further into the house. This transformation is most evident in the change of visibility, connectivity and materiality as one progresses from forecourt to courtyard.		Located at the top end of a T intersection, the site demanded a prominent façade, but also required a degree of separation from the lights of cars and direct views into the house. The series of lines to the left highlights the home’s transition from solid front to transparent courtyard.
Stone and frosted glass windows at the front give way to a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and kitchen, which in turn give way to folding window walls in the pool house and guest rooms surrounding the courtyard. While maintaining a simple and crisp palette, the overall effect of the exterior (stone) and interior (stucco) facades is of finished work and empty canvas.
View from guest bedroom. Despite the relative density of the neigborhood, trees dominate the lengthy view.

The home's internal spaces fall into two categories: Formal and Support Space (blue) and Interactive Space (red). Supporting this transition, the house shifts from a neutral linear organization to the highly internal focus of a centralized composition opening directly into the courtyard.
DETAILS
With large spaces, long façade and a minimal design aesthetic, the details developed were the primary elements defining scale and proportion within the house. Instead of layering ornamental components to create prominence, slightly oversized trim, cabinetry and fixtures balance the taller ceilings without creating visual distraction. In addition, the monochromatic palette allows for multiple scale readings of the same details. From a distance, most elements are monolithic, but show upon closer examination subtle reveals and surface variations. The same strategy is manifest in the stone pattern and stucco joints of the exterior facades.

STAGEFRONT