strickland-ferris residence...

location: Raleigh, NC
est. completion date: 2004
project team:
Frank Harmon
Sara Queen

project statment...

Lynda Strickland began working with our office in early 2003 to design a house in the trees where she could be with the birds and take advantage of the views across her site towards Crabtree Creek. Our design lifts the house off the ground on a series of sono-tube formed concrete piers and 8x8 wooden braces allowing minimal site disturbance. The house opens out to the north and the view with a storefront glass and steel façade stretching from the floor to the ceiling.  Contrasting the window wall is the solid thick wall to the south which reaches 7’-0” above the finished floor upstairs wrapping the southwest and southeast corners. The solid wall never touches the roof allowing the house to have a private face to the street while maintaining views through the clearstory towards the forest. Ms. Strickland wanted a modern and open house that was expressive of its making and allowed her to be enclosed by the forest.  After spending the last 10 years living in DC, she wanted a non-confining retreat space and from those desires came a floating roof over an open floor plan of which half is a double height space.

progress...

The house is complete except for a few interior details. Ms. Strickland intends to be living in her new home by December 2005.