2020 RDAA | Custom Urban House | Ontario House | David Jameson Architect

Ontario House cleverly eases two common pressures of urban row houses—a shortage of sunlight and private outdoor space. Faced with a 14-foot-wide remnant plot where two older row-house blocks converged, David Jameson, FAIA, designed a tall, handsome building that gives back some of the former green space.

The wood-clad building is sandwiched between two protruding zinc walls, veiling the adjoining row homes. “D.C. row houses are almost 100 percent masonry. This was a void space, metaphorically lighter, so these two suede-like metal walls bounce sunlight, and the Shou Sugi Ban rainscreen feels light. It allowed us to tuck in sliding doors and various other things,” David says.

The building’s setbacks carved out patio space on both ends of the house. Mesh panels support vertical gardens, screening the street and views from a five-story building across the alley. In the front, the gridded panels also obscure the entrance to a rental unit tucked under the front patio.

Inside, the central staircase echoes the diagram of the house, with two solid metal railing walls and perforated steel steps that funnel sunlight through the house. He built high to provide a fourth-floor aerie with front and rear decks and a rooftop lounge that looks over the top of adjacent buildings to Rock Creek Park and the National Zoo.

Urban infill is always ripe for reinvention, and this one considered all the angles while creating tiny planted microclimates. “I wanted to leave the idea to the neighborhood that it was still a green space,” David says.

CUSTOM URBAN HOUSE

Citation

DAVID JAMESON ARCHITECT
ONTARIO HOUSE
WASHINGTON, D.C

Project Credits

ARCHITECT: David Jameson, FAIA, principal in charge; project architects: Patrick McGowan, Frank Curtis, Christopher Cabacar, David Jameson Architect, Bethesda, Maryland

BUILDER: PureForm Builders, Bethesda

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Linton Engineering, Potomac Falls, Virginia

MEP CONSULTANT: Foley Mechanical, Lorton, Virginia

LIGHTING DESIGNER: David Tozer, North Potomac, Maryland

PROJECT SIZE: 4,600 square feet

SITE SIZE: 0.048 acres

CONSTRUCTION COST: Withheld

PHOTOGRAPHY: Paul Warchol Photography

Key Products

CABINETRY: Custom by Regency Custom Cabinets

CLADDING: Shou Sugi Ban by George Samaroo; Western States Metals

COOKTOP/RANGE: Wolf