Sarah Vandenburg

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CASE STUDY BRIEF The contemporary dwelling should address multiple areas of concern: sustainability, inclusion, and flexibility. Sustainabity should be explored to the fullest extent wherever possible. Materials local to a region or area should be implemented in applicable situations in order to reduce the carbon footprint of the build and to reduce impact on the global supply chain.

Whether or not there even remains a “miracle” American home given the amount of seemingly fundamental differences between certain segments of the population remains to be seen. This poses an interesting question: Is a “typical” or “miracle” home even plausible in the current climate of humanity? What defines the baseline for the expression of the “average American” in the modern world?

Designing for the future is a challange, especially in the face of a global crisis where technology and innovation have been evolving at an unprecedented pace. It may be necessary to implement fully adaptable spaces each with varying uses to accomodate varying usage within the home.

INDIVIDUAL

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COLLECTIVE

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C IA L

The industrial surroundings of this site create an interesting domestic environment.

While there are views of downtown Cincinnati to the East, the immediate area is full of commercial infrastructure. The goals for this house were to provide occupants with varying levels of privacy and noise reduction throughout.

By dividing the house into multiple gradients, a hierarchy of sound and privacy is created. From east to west, the house becomes quieter and more individual - with spaces for rest and reflection located farther away from the active State Avenue. From bottom to top, the house becomes more privatized - with collective and shared spaces accessible to all occupants as well as visitors at ground level, and personal bedrooms and workspaces located above.

There are multiple methods of dividing space throughout the house in order to modify the experience from room to room. Individual spaces are designed to have more seclusion than more collective spaces.

STORAGE

Structural glass of varying opacities and colors helps to filter light into spaces while providing privacy and noise reduction. These glass walls also help to enforce space in place of traditionally solid planes.

LAUNDRY GARAGE

Some spaces play in section and sink down below the floor datum. Other spaces are isolated through wayfinding, with snaking circulation utilized to seclude them further from louder areas in the home. Built -in cabinets or other constructed elements also help to divide space without the addition of solid walls.

UTILITY MUD ROOM

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GROUND FLOOR PLAN

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Exterior glass walls allow for maximum natural light and solar gain, while a screening system helps to reduce the harsh summer sun from overheating the interior. Additionally, the screening system helps to provide privacy to occupants from neighboring buildings.

Plants located on the patio spaces both outside the living space and bedroom spaces help to reduce the amount of outside noise as well as provide a return to nature to the occupants of the house living in this semi-industrial neighborhood. In general, these garden spaces provide users with additional privacy.

CLOSET

DINING KITCHEN

PANTRY

PATIO SUNKEN LIVING ROOM BALCONY

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

BEDROOM

BATHROOM

HALL

WORKSPACE

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PANTRY

SUNKEN LIVING ROOM

CLOSET

DINING

CLOSET

SHOWER

WORKSPACES

LINEN

STORAGE CLOSET

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

LAUNDRY

GARAGE

UTILITY

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SECTION