Tasked with examining the remnants of multiple design efforts that failed to establish a satisfactory direction for the clients, SHAKE embarked on a Concept Design effort that centered on a thorough process of site and contextual analysis. This new construction home, replacing an existing house, called for a considerable program including a home office, a pottery studio, garage, gym, two car garage, elevator, formal and informal living and dining spaces, as well as guest accomodations. SHAKE looked at the immediate and greater surrounding neighborhood context while developing a massing scheme that would control the overall bulk of the project and situate it in its sloping, wooded setting.
The proposed scheme came out of extensive examination of various architectural styles throughout Waban and Newton, as well as those previous schemes commissioned by the clients. The 1st period Colonial home as a modern conception became an inspiration for the project. 1st Period colonials are not only relevant within the historical context of New England but also for the way in which their reserved, simple forms and asymmetrical growth patterns and groupings played to the realities of this site and program. The concept calls for an unadorned but carefully detailed exterior that gives way to a richer, unexpected interior featuring a play between an exposed, structural post and beam grid and a more modern, super-insulated building envelope.
Photography: SHAKE
