140
DESIGN BUREAU
Columns
August 2013
architects & artisans
A Slender Home for a Slender Lot At a slim $117 per square foot, In Situ Studio designs a home that turns on a dime by J. Michael Welton
The design of the Raleigh house uses space economically over its quarteracre lot.
N
ot long ago, Raleigh architect Matthew Griffith told me a story that could serve as primer for any new firm just starting out.
In 2011, six months after he and co-principal Erin Lewis established In Situ Studio, a new client walked through the door. A young couple, their project had been declined by six other firms. “Everyone turned them away because the project wasn’t big enough, which translates into a fee that wasn’t big enough,” Griffith says.
They owned a long, thin lot in downtown Raleigh, and wanted a modern, sustainable, and affordable home there. In Situ took on the project for the challenge, rather than the fee. “We designed a house for a couple who probably couldn’t afford an architect,” he says.
The result is a two-story, shingles, and sheetrock are 1,450 square-foot residence used. The basic driver for with three bedrooms and the design was the standard two and a half baths—a slen- four-foot by eight-foot plyder home for a slender lot wood sheet. Economy was that’s a quarter-acre in size. the watchword here. “It’s basically a Monopoly house,” Griffith says of the “They wanted to do it for $100,000, but we set the Chasen Residence. tone by saying, ‘No way... Downstairs, the stairwell, but if you give us $150,000, hallway, kitchen, and half- we could probably make it bath are placed to one side, work,’” he says. “It crept up opening up the rest of the to $168,000 when they despace for living. The upper cided on an air conditioning floor is pushed towards the system and solar hot water back of the lot to create a panel.” But still, the project double-height living space came in at a slim $117 per at the street, and a screened square foot. porch fronting the backyard. And the word’s gotten out. The west wall features a Since its completion, Griffin number of operable win- says their firm has taken on dows, while the east wall has eight similar projects, most few. So when wind slips into of them renovations. the porous west wall, it accelerates to escape through All in all, it’s a win/win situsmaller openings on the east, ation: the client got the house generating a draft through- they wanted, and the new firm out, even on days with a established a solid reputation slight breeze. as architects who can get the most from a tight budget. a Elswhere inside the home, humble materials like Hardie Plank and panel siding, For more on In Situ Studio, vinyl windows, asphalt roof visit insitustudio.us.
J. Michael Welton writes about architecture, art, and design for a number of national and international publications. He also publishes an online design magazine at architectsandartisans.com. Portions of this article appeared there previously.