Breaking the prescriptive mold of horizontally layered homes, NaCl House aspires to render unclear the spatial organization of the project and explore an architecture of ambiguous scale. The resultant massing reveals an imperfect, rough-hewn form recalling the natural isometric formation of mineral rock salt.
Exterior View (Images Courtesy Paul Warchol Photography)
Four decades after their project was featured in the 1969 Record Houses issue of Architectural Record, the owners sold the house to a young couple. A condition of the sale was that the new owners would respect the character of the project, yet be able to revisit and alter the contained quality of the interior rooms to create a continuous living space visually connected to the woodland site.
This 2,200 square-foot residence is located on a Chesapeake Bay barrier island near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, an estuarine marshland ecosystem, and an important stop along the Atlantic Flyway. The project conceptually fuses architectonic form with the natural elements of the site. Positioned between a salt meadow marsh, a pine forest, and the bay, the architecture is conceived to be at one with the water, the horizon, and the sky. The idea of an elemental architecture is explored in the relationship between the simple form of the building and the agrarian structures that dot the surrounding area.
Inhabiting the masonry shell of an existing house, this project engages the phenomenon of ruins and explores the idea of aperture. The design program called for renovating the main level and adding a second level with a significantly smaller footprint.
Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine is the birthplace of America’s national anthem and one of the nation’s most significant historic landmarks. The Fort, the National Anthem and the flag, together and individually, help us to understand how the United States was created, defended, and preserved. It was with this context and these rich national symbols in mind that the design team, led by GWWO Architects, conceived the expression for the new visitor center.
Tags: Baltimore, Maryland Comments Off on Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine Visitor and Education Center in Baltimore, Maryland by GWWO Architects designed using SketchUp and AutoCAD
This house, located in Annapolis, Maryland is built on the foundation of a 1960s post and beam modern house. The foundation was kept in an effort to retain it’s proximity to Crab Creek, an estuary that feeds the Chesapeake Bay. Strict environmental regulations prohibited enlarging the pre-existing footprint or adding significant square footage to the house. The house is organized around a linear bar, clad in white stucco.
Crab Creek House (Image Courtesy Anice Hoachlander)
Located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, this project involves a complete renovation and substantial addition to a familiar, simply massed brick “colonial”. The original, gable shaped volume fronting the street is minimally altered in an effort to retain the scale and massing of neighboring houses. Tall windows are incorporated into the existing façade. A copper clad, vaulted volume is integrated into the composition with a new front porch and wide stairs, invoking the nostalgic porches found throughout the neighborhood.
Front View (Images Courtesy Maxwell MacKenzie Architectural Photographer)
The ¾ acre site of the Roberts Residence is bound by, a residential street along its west edge, single-family detached residences on adjacent lots to the north and south, and a wooded park towards the rear. At the front of the site along the street edge the site drops almost immediately by 8 feet. Only the roof of the house is visible from the street. The site continues to slope gently dipping another 12 feet until it reaches the wooded park to the rear of the site.
This house located in Glen Echo, Maryland is sited on a heavily wooded lot overlooking the Potomac River. Glen Echo stands as a rare enclave of modern houses in suburban Washington, DC. The new house occupies the footprint of a pre-existing house in an effort to minimally disturb the site, removing no mature hardwoods in the process. A new swimming pool is suspended twenty feet above grade to further reduce the impact to the steeply sloping site.
This house of 2900 square feet is located on a one acre, wooded lot, adjacent to park land outside of Washington, DC. The house is sited away from the road and oriented toward views deep into the woods. The sequence of entry is defined by a series of walls, intended to privatize and delineate the approach and entry into the house. The walls, garage volume and house become a threshold between the road and the wooded parkland.
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