Contextual Fit

"White buildings make you more aware of the colors of nature." - Richard Meier

This project aims to adapt to the existing well-known building, Smith House, designed by Richard Meier in 1965. A client wishes to expand their current home (Smith House), and also retain its architectural integrity. The systems contained within the original design must be understood and expanded upon, rather than being altered or destroyed.

SMITH HOUSE

The Smith House, built amidst the rocks and trees of a one-and-a-half-acre site, overlooks Long Island Sound from the Connecticut coast. A dense cluster of evergreens stands at the entrance to the property. Behind, the land clears and rises to the center of the site, then drops sharply to the rocky shoreline and a small, sandy cove.

The spatial organization of this house hinges on a programmatic separation between public and private areas. The private side of the house is at the entrance facing land, woods, and road. A series of closed, cellular spaces, these private areas are organized through three levels behind an opaque façade, which is intermittently pierced with windows. The public spaces, where the family meets and entertains, are to the rear of the house, overlooking the water. This public sector consists of three levels nestled within a three-sided glass enclosure; from the outside, the ground and upper levels appear as solid slabs held fast in the white mullions of the glass shell.

The dramatic view of the sea and sky that greets one upon entering is framed and intensified in the transparent skin of the rear façade. Placed directly opposite the entry, a painted brick fireplace pushes to the outside through the tight frame of mullions. Suspended between the chimney and the steel structural columns, the glazed wall creates a subtle tension that draws the occupant across the living space to the outside. The balustrades of the lower and upper levels are set back from the glass, amplifying that tension.

As a camera records the moment of an event, the experience of changing light and weather activates the crisp surfaces of the house, while the clear glazing gathers subtle reflections of the interior across its surface. The natural and the manmade exist as separate, elemental experiences, yet it is impossible to separate one from the other (Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP).

I meant to keep this description alive since our home owner likes this poetic analysis of his glass windows. Keeping this original feature alive will also contribute for the contextual fit and purpose of this project.

FLOOR PLANS

ELEVATIONS

STORY

Mr. Arnold is the new owner of the house and a distant relative of Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888), who was an English poet and cultural critic. As his relative, Mr. Arnold loves poetry, and his favorite lyric poem is called "Dover Beach." This poem has references to the Aegean Sea, an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the Greek and Anatolian peninsulas, where Mr. Arnold spends most of his days. He is fascinated with the idea of reading his favorite verses while watching the water. However, the house is tiny comparing to his taste. For this reason, Mr. Arnold wants to extend the house but maintain the historical features which he loves the most in the architecture of the house. However, also, he wants a touch of the Greek style of houses in the Aegean sea to remember the distinguished Matthew Arnold in the poem.

Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves drawback, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

REQUIREMENTS:

Master Suite, (duplex arrangement)

Master Bedroom, 200 S.F.

Master Bath, 80 S.F.

Walk-in-closets, as required

Exercise Room, 180 S.F. (not on the same floor as a bedroom)

Family Room, 300 S.F.

Formal Outdoor Area, 300 S.F. (i.e. deck, roof garden, etc.)

CONCEPT:

The Natural Form

RANK:

Family Room
Formal Outdoor Area

The most important area is the Family Room with High ceiling Glass Windows and the biggest room of the house. Mr. Arnold loves to receive friends and family for party and events. He also keeps his impressive collection of poetry books there.

SORT OF FUNCTIONS:

PUBLIC AREA

Family Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

LIVING AREA

Family Room

Kitchen

Exercise Room

REST AREA

Formal Outdoor Area

Master Suite

OPEN AREA

Family Room

Kitchen

Formal Outdoor Area

CLOSED AREA

Master Suite

Exercise Room

ABOUT THE CONCEPT: The Natural Form

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GOLDEN RATIO

The Golden Ratio is a standard mathematical ratio found in nature, which can be used to create pleasing, organic-looking compositions in the design project. It's also known as the Golden Mean, The Golden Section, or the Greek letter phi. The Golden Ratio can be used to bring harmony and structure into projects. Closely related to the Fibonacci Sequence, in which each term is the sum of the previous two, the Golden Ratio describes the perfectly symmetrical relationship between two proportions. That is why it is perfect concept for Contextual Fit between the existing and its extension.

Approximately equal to a 1:1.61 ratio, the Golden Ratio can be illustrated using a Golden Rectangle. This is a rectangle where, if we cut off a square (side length equal to the shortest side of the rectangle), the rectangle that's left will have the same proportions as the original rectangle. Golden Ratio calipers can be used to measure the proportions of artwork on the page.

I kept the same concept once used for Richard Meier to do the extension of his design. Harmonious proportion and scale are fundamental considerations in Richard Meier's work. Underlying a fluid imaginative conceptual approach to any project is the rational organization of building components based on geometric proportioning systems derived from the golden section employed by the Greeks and the Romans. An underlying building grid based on the scale of the human body and common building materials is then organized into larger building units that yield primary and secondary systems that regulate the design of the structure and basic rhythms in elements such as facades and the massing of the building as a whole (Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP). Keeping the original concept in mind and Mr. Arnold's desires, the Smith house should create a perfect visual fit.