La maison Hardouin La maison Hardouin vient marier l’ajout d’un immeuble contempo- rain à une plus vieille maison. Les rénovations et l’agrandissement substantiel (1 600 pi2) apportés à une maison de brique à deux étages (2 200 pi2) viennent établir un certain dialogue entre l’immeuble comme tel et le con- texte environnant, et entre les
deux parties distinctes de la maison agrandie. Une généreuse cour arrière et deux arbres énormes et imposants viennent redéfinir cette maison familiale avec puissance. L’ajout se prolonge vers l’extérieur, au beau milieu de ce paysage. Le centre d’attention discret et introverti des pièces d’origine
Hardouin House Kevin Alter
T he Hardouin House joins new to old by sewing a contemporary building addition onto an older existing house. At the same time, the project is a counter-proposal to the twin immodesties of starter mansions that inflate the economic status quo, and radical architectural inventions that disrespect the established social milieu. This project responds to a 1930s neighborhood in transition to affluence. Pemberton Heights is an eight-block enclave, once modest and now extraordinarily expensive. Here, an unassuming 1934 house is changed to accommodate the demands of its newfound value, not merely through more square footage and superior fixtures, but also through the introduc - tion of an unfamiliar aesthetic and a provocative delineation of space. The project called for the renovation and substantial expansion (1600 sq. ft.) of an existing (2,200 sq. ft.) two-story brick house, establishing a dialogue between the building and the surrounding context, and between the two distinct parts of the expanded house . The existing organization and character, the discrete, inward focus of the rooms and their original 1930’s spatial and material qualities is maintained. The expansion, by contrast, is characterized by openness, spatial continuity and abstraction. It is at the seam between the two parts that much of the energy of the project lies.
The architectural intervention is revealed gradually. The typical binary condition of public/front, private/back is transgressed. weaving the two realms together. The public realm is drawn deep into the lot along the west side of the house, while a private garden slips to the front of the house on the east. The brick skin of the house is continued around the outer walls of the addition, with deeply raked joints serving as the seam that joins the old to new. A generous backyard and two significant trees (a box elder to the north, and a huge, meandering live oak emerging from the property to the west) provide a powerful circumstance for redefining this family home. Set out in this context, the addition is organized around a courtyard and designed to expand into this landscape. The axis of the original entry sequence is extended through the length of the addition: another seam between old and new. On this path, one finds a clear spatial narrative with the emergence of a contemporary architectural idiom. Multivalent views, continuity with neighbouring spaces and an unexpected sense of transparency and reflection characterize the new space. The different spatial characters in the old and new parts needed special attention to the permeable border between them. Along this line, translucent glass and acrylic screens emphasize the change in idiom, and
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O n S ite review
S ewing
I ssue 8 2002
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