Design Thinking
DESIGN BUREAU
OPEN HOUSE 04 Four architects give us a tour of their favorite hometown projects
John Burke & Todd Ray Huis-JCMZ House washington, dc An American residence designed to recall the charming qualities of European architecture BY ALYSSA MANNION PORTRAIT BY DALLAS LILLICH
Architecture photos by Maxwell Mackenzie
Winding Italian roadways inspired John Burke and Todd Ray’s design for a Washington, DC, residence. “It’s basically the way you would move along a street in a hill town in Italy; the form of the street is not defined by curbs or sidewalks, but by the forms and façades of the buildings,” Ray says. Johannes Zutt, the client and owner of the 2,500-square-foot house, is the man behind the design. Zutt grew up in Holland with a fascination for European architecture, and his own knowledge on the topic drove the design process. “When we interviewed with this client, he possessed a tremendous breadth of knowledge about European pavilions,” Burke says. In order to bring Zutt’s own modern European pavilion to life, the design required rigorous planning and logic. Burke and Ray arranged the rooms in the house in the same way that European buildings are organized in an urban setting. “It’s reminiscent of an urban spatial experience,” Burke says. “The in-between spaces—the alleys and streets—are created by the buildings. In this house, the rooms are acting as buildings do in an urban environment; they are definining the open living space.” a
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