Lower Fairfield County Coast, Connecticut, United States
Joeb Moore + Partners Architects
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
Situated along the Connecticut shoreline of
Long Island Sound, the Spiral House seeks to engage, enhance and reflect the surrounding coastal climate and its atmospherics of light, air, water. Formally and spatially, the house is a direct and pragmatic response to the strict environmental (
FEMA and flood elevations) and local zoning restrictions and regulations (height, building setbacks, FAR, footprint) imposed on the building and site (see sectional diagram).
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
Conceptually, the house is the resultant form and operation of an interface and tension between two systems of geometry, one projective (fixed) and the other, radial (dynamic). Through a overlapping system of spatial and
geometric progression, growth, and interference the social-spatial roles of public and private, interior and exterior, house and landscape are intimately connected and entwined, and yet are also left curiously open-ended and indeterminate much like the water itself.” Overall, the house (and its underlying dual geometries) operate precisely and creatively within the found and prescribed social and environmental boundaries of the site to produce a dynamic, experience-oriented dwelling.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
The coastal landscape is one of mist, reflection, and indistinctness, sometimes fierce and turbulent, and sometimes, calm and gentle. Things appear to constantly change, fad or drift away. We sought material and formal operations that might mirror and even celebrate this atmospheric ontology of the sea and its operatic arrangements of light, air, and water. We selected cedar wood siding (to respond and innovate upon the cedar-wood shingle and clapboard houses in the surrounding neighborhood), large panel glass window/door systems to promote extraordinary views of Long Island Sound (35’ away), and concrete because if its durability and strength to resist the coastal New England storm surges over time.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
The contrast between the spiral wood structure, its vertical wood-fin skin, against the concrete plinth and ramp, and the 11’ tall transparent/reflective glass curtain wall system sandwiched between all combine to produce a rich and complex range of shifting perceptual effects that again mirror and re-present the house within the context of the coastal surroundings and atmosphere.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
An example of this strategy at the micro-tectonic level, where we blur the perceptual boundary between building and environment, is the vertical cedar batten/louver system designed for the skin of the wood structure of the building. A system of 3/4” x 3-1/2” vertical red-cedar wood fins with stainless steel clips and trim that emerged as a material/tectonic detail and formal/spatial device to unify the disparate parts and elevations of the building but also as a technique to accentuate and amplify the temporal, diaphanous, “moray” effects of sky, water, and building to produce both literal and phenomenological transparency (see photos).
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Jeff Goldberg/ESTO |
It is an extraordinary and constantly changing experience on the site, a spatial-temporal collide-a-scope that has its center in the house itself. Just as the collision of waves creates an interference pattern, one key node within the project interjects a disruption into the flow of the spiral—the interior bridge that links the two different floors heights upstairs.
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| Photo © Courtesy of Todd Mason Halkin Photography LLC |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Todd Mason Halkin Photography LLC |
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| Photo © Courtesy of Todd Mason Halkin Photography LLC |
The relationship of the bridge to the interior stairway and exterior courtyard conveys the performative nature of the spiral as a vortex and the interface and tension between two systems of geometry, one projective + linear and the other, radial + dynamic.
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| site plan--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| first floor plan--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| section--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| collage--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| entry ramp--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| interior render--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| elevation--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| elevation + rendering--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| diagram--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| site photo--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
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| model--drawing Courtesy of Joeb Moore + Partners Architects |
The people
Architects: Joeb Moore + Partners Architects
Location: Lower Fairfield County Coast, Connecticut, United States
Structural Engineer: Robert Sillman Associates
Mechanical Engineer: Tucker and Associates, Inc.
General Contractor: Frank Talcott, Inc.
Landscape Architects: Joeb Moore + Partners Architect and Owner
Consultants: Concrete Architectural Works, Inc., David Roggero, Custom Architectural Concrete Shower, Tub and Vanity
Project Area: 3,900 sqf
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Jeff Goldberg/ESTO,
Todd Mason Halkin Photography LLC, Joeb Moore + Partners Architects
