Architect: The Raleigh Architecture Co.
Project Location: Raleigh, NC
Project Completion Date: December, 2014

Short Description: The Hungry Neck residence directly reflects the personality of the young couple that lives there: open, engaged, and reflective. Located in a neighborhood of downtown Raleigh that serves as a thriving connective tissue for the surrounding historic areas, the house is designed to share the owners’ varied passions with their community: his love of cooking shaped an open light-filled kitchen, their engaged interest in gardening led to a water catchment system, and her need for reflection crafted a quiet writing nook. Like its homeowners, the house aims to educate strangers and friends alike in both stewardship and thoughtful design.

Architect’s Statement: The Hungry Neck Residence accommodates the variety of activities in which the homeowners engage by providing spaces that are fundamentally different yet connected. Interests ranging from cooking and entertaining to music and writing lead to a design centered around a circulation volume filled with light.    The central space includes the kitchen and connects the open gathering space to the private realm of the upstairs office and bedrooms. The master bedroom balcony overlooks a hundred year old oak tree and the garden below, while the office provides an escape from the activity of the main living space but maintains a visual connection to the street and the neighborhood. Deep overhangs and natural ventilation offer low-tech vernacular strategies to condition the house, supplemented by geothermal wells and an underground water cistern used for laundry and other non-potable uses. The material palette is subtle and simply detailed; minimal steel handrails relate to the kitchen hood without competing with it, leaving the central, pivotal space as uncluttered as possible in order to make room for people to gather. The Hungry Neck Residence reflects its owners at all scales, while responsibly engaging the world in which it operates; it serves as a reminder that successful design is, first and foremost, an exercise in philanthropy.

Type of Construction: Roof overhangs are achieved with little steel reinforcement by implementing an open web truss roof structure.    A sealed crawl space and open cell spray foam insulation provide an efficient thermal envelope that is heated and cooled by two vertical geothermal wells.    City water consumption is reduced by a rainwater collection system that supplies cold water to toilets, washing machines, and landscape irrigation via a 1,200 gallon underground water cistern. Metal pan-formed concrete foundations support 2×6 exterior wood stud walls and engineered lumber floors. Painted cementitious panels provide a low maintenance exterior, while locally sourced cypress siding covers the soffit of the second floor overhangs. Galvanized standing seam metal roofing was specified to handle the low slopes and provide a durable surface and reflect unwanted heat gain.

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