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The Martin Residence is carefully configured to take full advantage of its tight city lot. With a porch in front, patio in back, and rooftop terrace above, it invites an easy lifestyle of casual indoor/outdoor living that is possible here in NC.
Eager to live in a downtown pedestrian neighborhood, the Martins originally intended to transform an existing house into an efficient, modern, sustainable urban dwelling tailored to the needs of their growing family. Their new home was designed in relation to the footprint of the existing house and the two enormous trees that occupied the lot.
Unfortunately, the foundation of the house was found to be faulty, and so it was disassembled by Habitat for Humanity for recycling. Similarly, the large front tree was found to have diseased roots and had to be removed. The design remained unchanged, however, and a new tree was planted in its place.
In addition to choosing to build in a neighborhood where they could be less car-dependent, the Martins wanted to build sustainably as much as possible. Some of the green features of their new home include: a geothermal heat pump, SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) construction, solar hot water panels for radiant heat and domestic use, rainwater collection, hardiplank siding, the extensive use of local, salvaged and/or recycled materials, native, drought tolerant landscaping, and of course, efficient space design. Fortunately, the east-west direction of the street allowed for a great south-facing roof that offers prime exposure for the solar hot water panels.
Though the house introduces new elements and technologies to this street of 1920s bungalows, it continues the key pattern of generous front porches that is common to its neighbors. Unlike the other porches, however, the decking on this porch is made from recycled milk jugs.
The front porch and roof are carved out in deference to the "Entry Tree," with a curve centered on its tree trunk. Above, the roof deck offers a perch from which to view life in the street below.
An entry bench and siding
continue from inside to out, making a place by the front door. It offers a
chance to pause and get a close up view of what will become the large, variegated tree trunk of the
newly planted Sycamore. The two trees of the lot are connected visually
inside the house. One
tree "sees" the other through large openings framing their
trunks at either end of the house.
An entrance hall leads to one large room incorporating the kitchen, dining, and living areas. Heartpine flooring, salvaged from a pre-Civil War textile mill in nearby Burlington, steps down to a polished concrete floor. Tubing embedded in the slab is fed by solar hot water panels to provide radiant heat to the room.
A lower ceiling at the entrance transitions to higher ceilings at the kitchen, dining and living areas, exposing the beams and joists of the roof deck above. The dining area is distinguished by a long skylight that washes a tall concrete wall to the west with sunlight. Opposite are French doors that open the dining up to an on level patio for easy outdoor eating and living.
An exterior door at the kitchen allows convenient access to unloading from the car. Recycled glass tiles make up the backsplash.
To the floor glass in the living room focuses attention on the immense tree trunk beyond. Built-ins house TV & stereo and create niches for a piano, computer desk, and windowseat. Through the skylight above, the ever-changing path of the sun marks the seasons and time of day. At night the skylight becomes a lantern, with interior lights illuminating the roof deck above with a soft gentle glow.
A windowseat is tucked into the corner of the living room, up against the concrete back wall, which extends outside and carries a gutter along its top edge. From this niche you get a private view of the rainchain at the end of the wall, which empties into a 1000 gallon underground rain cistern. Water is stored here, to be pumped out later for watering the yard.
The house opens up to more expansive views to the east, and is shielded from its closeby neighbors and higher grades on the west, with an insulated poured-in-place concrete wall that is continuous on this side. Riding atop the concrete wall are two gutters sloped in opposite directions which collect water from the roof deck and double as a kind of water-carrying trim band along this west elevation.
Each gutter terminates in rainchains at either end of the house, displaying the flow of rain and marking the entry in front and windowseat view in back.
The interior stairs are enclosed on one side by a bank of low storage cabinets that serve the kitchen,
and incorporate a bench at the landing, a mid-stair perch from which to survey the activities below. This landing is also accessible via a half flight of steps down to the back patio,
directly linking the back terrace with the roof deck above.
You climb up through the house as you do the site, moving from outside to inside to outside again.
Though space is tight, by opening up every indoor space to an outdoor one, all rooms feel spacious regardless of size.
The roof deck offers a rare opportunity to be among the rooftops and gives a sense of liberation relative to the density of the neighborhood at street level below. Rather than a roof, we chose to create an outdoor living room, set under a canopy of trees, accessible from both inside and outside, and connecting the private backyard with the public street beyond.
The upper level takes advantage of distant, forested views of Oakwood Park beyond, a unique view few get in this part of downtown. At the corners of the house, we used casement windows that swing away from the corner, opening up on the diagonal, and giving a feeling of spaciousness and expanse, even to small rooms.
Interior and exterior openings line up for cross-ventilation and layered views out.
As an infill project in one of Raleigh’s oldest, downtown neighborhoods, the Martin house is unique in terms of its energy efficiency, materials and green technologies, but in terms of its location, it is like its older neighbors, building on a tradition of density and pedestrian connectivity. With school, work and shopping all within walking distance of their house, for the first time, the Martins now enjoy virtual car-free living, fulfilling their dream of living sustainably.
NOTE: The Martin House was selected from a nationwide search to be featured on Discovery's new "Planet Green" network on the show "Renovation Nation," hosted by Steve Thomas of This Old House. The construction of the house, with a focus on its green aspects, is documented in a series of four episodes, first aired in July 2008. See the Construction Diary for a brief overview of the construction and filming process.
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