LOCATION: BROOKLYN, NYC
TYPE: RESIDENTIAL
STATUS: 2020
CLIENT: PRIVATE CLIENT
TEAM: AMANDA SCHACHTER, ALEXANDER LEVI, DUGAN LUNDAY, ARIANNA DEANE
Brooklyn Residence is a 6,000-square-foot single-family home in Midwood, Brooklyn, that redefines the neighborhood’s 1920’s Tudor Revival typology to maximize zoning envelope and enhance social sustainability. The family originally lived in a smaller house on the same lot, but with four growing children, needed more room. Having both sets of grandparents living a short walk away and an aunt residing next door convinced the clients to remain on-site and expand their home to the full allowable envelope.
The design emerged from the family’s wish for more space at the front of their side alley. To achieve this, we chamfered the facade and let this move carry an overall geometry through the house. In the front-facing studiolo on the first floor, a series of fanning louver-frames emanate from a center-point, looking out to the street and the world outside, while holding the chamfered edge. The deep louvers provide south-facing shade for passive cooling through the modulation of direct midday light while giving a sweeping cinematic view from within. This gives way on the second floor, to a large, upshifted ‘cyclops’ window in the master bedroom that sends the view out and upwards to the sky, while hiding the third floor from the street to size down the perceived scale of the house.
Private residential projects can play an important part in shaping community. In an era when scaling up to buildable allowance often results in the creation of “McMansions,” and turning away from the street, our goal with the Brooklyn Residence was to elevate the 1920’s Tudor-Revival developer typology to a work of architecture. By stripping away the veneer of style we create a taut volume with ambiguous scale. The house also interacts with the street. One of the most important exterior elements is the porch. On warm evenings, people sit outside in this close-knit community and greet passersby. As the quotidian brick of the façade wraps over the chamfer, it pulls away from the house opens up and reaches out to the street to create a lasting sense of neighborhood and place in the heart of Brooklyn.
