Henry Clay II

once the decision had been made to unwrap and rewrap the old cottage, the scope of the project began to expand. the design for henry clay i was a smaller scheme that left more of the site open for the development of a detached caretaker’s cottage. the henry clay ii strategy incorporates housing for a future caretaker as part of phase one. in celebration of the clients’ love for green space and gardening, the new site strategy aimed to define a collection of garden zones: north, south, east, and west gardens around the perimeter of the structure that would flourish at different times of the year.

to connect the home’s interior to the gardens outside, the physical perimeters of the structure were developed as occupiable edge conditions in a zone of transition between inside and out. a double-height screened porch extension of the master bedroom, a long side galley, south-facing porch overlooking a future citrus grove, and west-facing, upper-level shuttered porches all occupy this transitional indoor/outdoor zone. the operable shutters, sized in response to scale of the avenue, offer an additional level of privacy.

the split-level section of the new scheme was developed in an effort to decrease the amount of circulation through the strategy. rather than relying on centralized stairwells, this scheme’s strategy uses a collection of shallow, short stair runs that connect floor level to floor level with the intention that one moves gradually through a sequence of connected rooms.

in the end, the old cottage was re-concealed within the new home. in the process, the cottage had to be uncovered, repaired, temporarily lifted and held in place while a new foundation capable of supporting the entire building was prepared, and finally lowered into place and wrapped by the new home in feat of construction that exemplifies a unique hybrid of preservation and progressive design.

construction: bildconstructs