Architect: The Raleigh Architecture Company
Project Location: Raleigh, NC
Project Completion Date: Spring 2015
Short Description: The Powers’ Residence is an infill project located on a busy intersection in downtown Raleigh. Heavy concrete walls and slatted wood screens work in tandem to provide a private exterior space with southern exposure for gardening, reduce sound from passing cars, and prevent views into the public living spaces of the house. Private sleeping areas are elevated and connected by a steel mezzanine, allowing the lower level an open floor plan and expansive living space with views to the sky. The house adds to the urban fabric by reinforcing the street corner and providing a connection from interior to exterior.
Architect’s Statement: The challenge of creating privacy on a street corner –which is by nature, exposed— became the main driving force of the design. The previously vacant lot called out to the street edge, but the private nature of the house and its owners called for a retreat from it. These contrasting notions created a design which operates by layers: office, bathroom, main bedroom suite and service areas are tucked away from the busy street, while the living room opens to the corner as a double-height space. An open steel catwalk connects the private bedrooms and leads out to a second floor balcony, which overlooks the main street. In the living room, full height windows and a translucent ethanol fireplace create direct visual connections to the exterior courtyard and to the street. The courtyard’s walls feature a wood lattice to allow interaction with the neighborhood while retaining privacy, and the low concrete walls provide weight to the street corner, anchoring the house as it reinforces the urban fabric.
Type of Construction: The deep south-facing overhang is achieved with open-web wood trusses, which provide a single slope roof cantilevering out to the street. White TPO roofing provides a durable surface while reflecting unwanted heat gain, and the sealed crawl space and open cell spray foam insulation provide an efficient thermal envelope. Metal pan-formed concrete foundations support 2×6 exterior wood stud walls and engineered lumber floors. Painted cementitious siding, contrasted by steel panel cladding at the corner of the house, offer a low maintenance exterior, which complements the cast-in-place concrete walls of the corner courtyard.