Starter Home* No. 3, 4514 S Saratoga in New Orleans, Louisiana by OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Article source: OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

4514 S. Saratoga is another iteration of Starter Home*, an entry level housing program using inventive land strategies coupled with design to develop homeownership opportunities in urban neighborhoods. Like other homes in this program, it is based on the reclamation of an otherwise vacant and unused substandard parcel. The project, unlike previous versions, originated as a commission by private clients interested in replicating the program.

Main elevation along S. Saratoga St, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

• Architects: OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)
• Project: Starter Home* No. 3, 4514 S Saratoga
• Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
• Photography: William Crocker 
  
• Structural Engineer: Walter Zehner
• Budget: $250,000
• Gross Built Area: 1,500 square feet
• Completion: 2017

View of third floor from adjacent street, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

In keeping with the generalized precepts of speculative development, 4514 S. Saratoga is a standard three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home. The limited site area — about a third the size of a traditional parcel in New Orleans — required program be stacked vertically and efficiently. An entry stoop was carved from the ground floor footprint and served to internally organize the main living spaces. A back porch and a small yard occupy the limited space required by setbacks. The second floor has two compact bed and bathrooms. The third-floor functions as an additional bedroom or flex space with walk-in access to a large storage area.

S. Saratoga street looking east, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

S. Saratoga St. looking west, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

The overall form, ambiguously reminiscent of a traditional home, was devised to manipulate the perception of its true height and scale. The massing moves up and out, reflecting the open space requirements of the first floor and the need to maximize permitted buildable area on the remaining floors. This is further reinforced with the detailing of the exterior cladding. Like other Starter Home* projects, 4514 S Saratoga needed to utilize a ubiquitous and cheap material. In this case conventional cementitious panels were detailed to step out at controlled intervals to obscure the height of floor plates. Vertical batten strips, placed at varying widths, were misaligned to reinforce the stepped banding. From the street the upper floor is encapsulated in the volume of the roof, with the eve line no higher than a typical two-story home. The form opens up towards the rear and side to allow windows into the third-floor room. This peaked portion of the home, while not immediately present from its own street front, is seen along adjacent streets in an intentional interaction with the adjacent rooftop dormers, uncannily present though not entirely clear where it belongs.

Rear deck area, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

Entrance area looking toward rear yard, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

View from third level, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

View from second floor, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

Stair core at second level bedroom area, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

Ground floor living space, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

Stair core with custom fabricated railing, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

Kitchen area with views to rear yard, Image Courtesy © William Crocker

Massing studies, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Massing studies, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Massing studies, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Final model in street context, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Approach view of final model in street context, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Concept Batten: Diagram of material banding and step configuration, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Floor Plans: Floor plans of all levels, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Sections 1: Building section, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Sections 2: Building section, Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Elevation: South Saratoga Street elevation , Image Courtesy © OJT (Office of Jonathan Tate)

Tags: Louisiana, USA

Categories: Apartments, Family house, House, Residential

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