As one of ten selected architects to submit an urban contemporary house design on display at the Farnsworth Art Museum (www.farnsworthmuseum.org/exhibition/homestead-project)
we began with the question "Why here?" We are convinced that the
answer to that question—in its detail and nuance—would be the foundation
for any concept we developed. It is a perplexingly complex context,
both physically and socially. The middle of downtown, in the heart of
an eminent museum grounds, far from the typically desirable secluded
oceanfront parcel. We are intrigued: this is a client who has a
well-considered attitude about being part of a community, and one who
has thought about balancing that with the need for privacy and
reflection. This proposal dedicates the east edge of the property to a new
farnsworth museum exhibit space, defining the Elm Street entrance to the
museum and delineating end-of-museum and beginning-of-residential
precincts. The plan and section are a complex series of layers
progressing from the public realm of the street to the private spaces of
the house. A series of robust stone walls have several duties.
Pragmatically, they are used as space definers. Metaphorically, they
allude to masonry patterns in town, as well as the directional fingers
of ledge defining the topography and geography of midcoast Maine.
Thermally, they provide mass contributing to the energy reduction
strategy. Tactilely, they define the rough end of the material spectrum
in the house. And, provocatively, they invert the fundamental spatial
essence of the19th century entry hall, exchanging absence for presence.models by local collaborator, brian briggs
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