Architectural Design
II
Project
#2: Contextual Fit | Smith House
Smith
House with Addition
About the Final Design
I chose to go
with my second conceptual idea which was to design two separate additions,
where the existing would be at the center. I chose it so that I could best
replicate three of Richard Meier's design layouts; public/private, enclosure
and circulation. I also tried to take his four support columns in the front of
the house and create a support grid for both additions so that the contours of
the terrain wouldn't be a problem.
The front
addition hugs the corner of the house from the second floor all the way to the
roof. It's the Family Room, a large two story space that is the center of
family activities and relaxation. This is where I started to break with Richard
Meier's boxy looking perpendicular lined design by incorporating two 30 degree
angles into the two front walls. The long wall is 30 degrees of the axis of the
columns and the short wall 90 degrees off the axis of the long wall. I also
mirrored the quarter circle that Meier used in the stair tower to break up the
edge in the back wall. And using the angles I had set up with the family room
columns, I set up a basic grid pattern that I used to place the other columns
two support both additions.
The back
addition joins with the existing home on the second floor with a reveal and a
continuation of the existing back wall and part of the front wall. I again used
a 30 degree angle off of the center wall to meet up with a perpendicular wall
that meets with the axis of the existing front wall. Then the front wall
continues, until I used another 30 degree wall this time rotating into the room
(which mirrors the angle in the Family Room, as well as the deck and is the
same length as the other angled wall in the Master Suite). It was important to
me that the Master Suite be isolated from the public areas. In the original,
the Living Room on the second floor was the main gathering place, and the usually
private Master Suite is right next to it. So I put it on the third floor above
the Exercise Room, with its own private staircase. It’s still part of the
house, but now it’s truly an oasis from all the commotion that is likely to
take place downstairs.
The front
deck bridges the two editions, and ties it into the existing by wrapping around
the house. I'd like to point out that I moved the existing stairs because in
the existing house they were located outside of the most important room, and
now they are located outside the other most important room in the addition. I
drew a 30 degree line off of the axis of the wall on the second floor addition
until it met the perpendicular line off of the existing wall inside the living
room. Then I took off the part beyond where the interior wall for the Exercise
Room was to break it up.
I also had to
make a few modifications to the existing house, especially with the windows on
the right wall. I had to move the
windows on the second and third floors to the back, which robs them of the
view. But in doing that, it might force
people who want a view to go the third floor sitting area, encouraging social
interaction.
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