RESIDENTIAL

Private Residence

This modern residence near Chagrin Falls was designed for an empty-nester couple to support their love of entertaining, woodworking, music, art, and family. The home's clean lines and cantilevers play against the naturalized landscape.
—Always By Design

Located on a former farmstead just east of Chagrin Falls, this new dwelling sits on a 1.5-acre site, walking distance to the town center. Designed for empty nesters, the home prioritizes entertaining and their retirement pursuits: music, woodworking, and gardening. The initial concept of the house is derived from the section of the main living space, with a 13’-0” tall ceiling and south-facing clerestory windows that bring daylight into the heart of the home. The parti is organized in two horizontal bars. Main living spaces are oriented east to west with ample fenestration open to a naturalized backyard and secluded from the street.

A cross-axial bar contains a garage and support spaces. It connects across an open breezeway to the woodshop and defines outdoor rooms at the front and back of the house. The upstairs provides two additional bedrooms and a living room for visiting grandchildren. The cantilevered stair with sailboat rigging pays homage to another owner passion.

Exterior materials are sustainably harvested Ipe rainscreen, metal, glass, and concrete. The forms of the two building bars slide past each other and overlap, delineated by horizontal and vertical slots of glass and metal. Ipe siding folds to create the entry loggia, supported by a tuning fork column and the front porch. Interior materials are minimal: radiant-heated concrete floor on the first level, bamboo cabinetry (and flooring at the second level), quartz countertops, granite fireplace. Sustainable features include prioritized solar orientation, photovoltaic array, radiant floors, energy recovery systems, and high efficiency glass and insulation.

A naturalized berm with indigenous planting shields the home from the street. The building forms and tall grasses define two outdoor rooms: a circle of manicured grass to the south in front, and to the north an exterior court extends the living room to the outdoors overlooking a meadow and a grove of walnut trees.