House on 5th

Bethlehem, PA, United States

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House on 5th

Bethlehem, PA, United States

Firm

Biondo+Projects

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2021

In traversing a typical working-class neighborhood of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, one’s encounter with a child-like house of pure proportions and artistic craft incites curiosity about its origin. This entry-level dwelling was a self-initiated exercise in developing a local architecture for a non-affluent environment, equally deserving of high-quality design. In contrast to the status-driven volumes of suburban mini-mansions, a compact Levittown-sized footprint and a simple framing scheme was adopted. The house, a basic two-bedroom family dwelling takes advantage of the economy of a smaller site with an emphasis on quality. With the footprint, volume, and materials constrained by the site, the budget and constructability, the quality of the architecture was the result of treating all of the necessary layers of site and building as opportunities for composition. Rather than pre-conceiving a fully documented vision the architect assumed the attitude of a builder, improvising and grooming the design at each stage in conversation with the sub-contractors. Once a few charrettes worth of sketches and carvings suggested a well-proportioned plan and sculptural volume, a tabloid set of hand drafted floor plans, framing plans and elevations were developed for permit. After the earth was scraped the build became the study model with the architect spec writing through gestures and sharpy illustrations on the framing. The response to every pragmatic requirement (retaining the grade, defining entrances, providing loft access, coursing and materials, resolving eaves and corners, paving the driveway, etc.) was improvised as a series of sketches guided by rudimentary design principles so that in the end nothing was extra and all of the elements that might have otherwise been overlooked comprised the architecture. The result of this exercise was not a high-end estate, but a high quality, financially accessible home that will assume a modest but important role as a contextually relevant backdrop within an everyday neighborhood.

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House on 5th

Bethlehem, PA, United States

House on 5th

Bethlehem, PA, United States

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team