Wesley Heights, Washington, DC

This new house is sited on a steep Wesley Heights lot which overlooks Glover Archbold Park and backs to a wooded lot adjoining the Krueger Museum.

The in-town site offered a unique opportunity to build a home that was both glassy and private at the same time. The plan of the house is defined by two solid walls placed on the side lot lines, and open glass walls on the long sides facing Glover Archbold Park and the open wooded lot to the rear.

The glass walls facing the street open to a 5 foot deep terrace running the length of the house. This serves to open up the house during parties and to block the view of the road from inside the house. A low retaining wall in the rear defines a pea gravel open court which is used for outdoor dining. When the glass doors of the first floor are opened the front terrace and rear pea gravel court become outdoor rooms, making the first floor feel expansive and open to nature.

A minimal material palette was carefully selected throughout the house. The goal was to highlight the separation of vertical elements (stained wood walls) from horizontal planes (travertine floors and plaster ceilings). Stressing the floor and roof plane heightens the horizontal experience; the effect is a floating sensation above Glover Archbold Park. The open first floor plan is defined by cabinetry rather than walls, a sense of freedom is felt living in the house.

Photography by Maxwell MacKenzie

Wesley Heights, Washington, DC

Surrounded by Battery Kemble Park, this spectacular site offered a rare opportunity for glass architecture to be created in a city context with the feel of a country setting.

Designed simultaneously, these two modern day villas balance each other in layout and detail to take full advantage of park views while retaining openness of site. Simple elegant proportions shape the exterior. Openings are carefully placed to take in views. Clarity of design is found by allowing functions of the plan to direct form.

The spatial layout is a play of transparency between inside and outside, allowing the exterior views to flow through the interior. Floor to ceiling glass, limestone floors, African mahogany and plaster walls create rich, generous spaces that allow grandeur and simplicity to gracefully coexist.

Photography by Maxwell MacKenzie

St. Michaels, MD

Maryland’s Eastern Shore is a unique and picturesque landscape, where gentle river tributaries, creeks, and the waters of the Chesapeake Bay intermingle to create a folded jigsaw puzzle of peninsulas and inlets. Located at the tip of one such peninsula, this home’s site features sweeping views of San Domingo Creek and wooded shoreline beyond.

The four-acre property came with a restricted buildable area defined by an existing tennis court, an existing septic field, a one hundred foot buffer from high water’s edge, flood zones and multiple overlapping critical root zones of the protected mature oak trees scattered throughout the property. The program called for a auto court for guest parking, a garage with property manager’s building, a pool and pool shed, and generous outdoor terrace areas supporting a house sized to accommodate frequent guests and visiting family. Of course, all rooms should have views of the water.

The house is organized into a U-shaped, five-part plan. This plan parti achieved the sought-after water views for each room and also broke down the massing of the building into more manageable parts, making it possible to site the house comfortably within the restricted envelope. The traditional five-part plan was re-interpreted with glass hyphens, allowing for water views from the front entry hall, auto court and approaching drive. The entry hall, dining room, kitchen, family room, master bedroom, terrace and pool were all sited on axis with a distant water view of San Domingo Creek.

The interior is entirely focused toward exterior views. Trim is nonexistent and rooms are painted a pure white. Furniture is sparse and subdued, and spaces are punctuated by a few prominent pieces of art. Shiplap siding runs through the interior hyphens, tying together the interior and exterior and further opening up these spaces. Their large panes of glass are treated with concealed blinds to avoid glare and provide privacy as necessary.

On the exterior, large true divided lite windows scale openings with one another and create an underlying proportioning scheme for the house. Twelve inch wide deep-groove shiplap siding, deep projecting window casing and eaves with built-in gutters create strong shadow lines to delineate the facades with horizontal and vertical patterns. Columns are elongated to accentuate their slenderness, and to further abstract the traditional model.

Photography by Maxwell MacKenzie

Photography by Peter Vanderwarker