Gillingham Strauss Residence
This modern home had one requirement: Make it Show!
Which was a tricky proposition, since the construction had to fit within the real estate market prices and a big chunk of the budget had been swallowed up by the purchase of the lot. Dilworth does not come with cheap sidewalks.
To deliver and still provide privacy for our clients, Pam Gillingham and Jesse Strauss, we hoisted the entire living space including kitchen and a dining area into the air and housed it in a huge white "C"-shaped structure.
Avoiding an expensive steel frame, we carefully calibrated the cantilever entirely out of engineered wood beams and elongated the hovering effect by resting a good length of the spaceship on two inconspicuous black walls.
The rear of the home houses a fully functioning independent apartment above the 2-car garage. Its access is through an exterior staircase. To elevate the white living structure further we treated the remaining building visually as a simple dark gray volume. We thought of it almost as a cliff, onto which the white "C" is seated.
In plan the house is laid out as two distinct volumes. The public living spaces on the left, the private sleeping quarters on the right. Both are connected by an open foyer and a catwalk above.
The only element showing in the entry and visible from the street is the open staircase. Custom made out of carbon steel, aged oak treads, and steel cable railings it is the showpiece on the interior.
The second floor holds the spaces for the couples daily life, while the first floor offers a home office, guest rooms, storage and the garage.
~ Toby