Residence in Soho
New York City, New York
2005
A small, 900 sq. ft. guest house on the vacation estate of a Parisian family. The structure has three functions: to be an occasional guest house for short-term visitors, to house small gatherings that capitalize on the extensive view from its privileged location on the estate, and to appear from the main house as an aesthetically considered ‘object in the landscape.” In order to keep the house economically viable it is to be constructed from standard poured-in-place concrete floors that are slightly cantilevered from a primary vertical structural support column that also houses vertical circulation. The building is clad in high performance limestone tinted Taktl concrete panels that are able to withhold high levels of cast detail that resist chipping or flaking over time. The high-resolution patterns cast into the vertical surfaces emerge from a fractal design software system developed in the office for the project. Through the use of these fractal forms, the house has different formal language that emerge from different distances and perspectival positions. As one moves closer, recursive details are revealed that invite further speculative inquiry such that the house becomes not merely one easily grasped ‘object in the landscape,’ but multiple- all revealed from different locations on the site.