Constraints are almost a cliché on urban lots these days. But here the solutions are anything but ordinary. A dilapidated carriage house sat on an 11,000-square-foot flag lot—which seems large until you plan for the looming red maple near the center and the need for privacy from seven adjacent neighbors.
In response to the family’s request for informal, light-filled spaces and indoor-outdoor areas for entertaining, Colleen Healey, AIA, devised a roughly U-shaped scheme that bends around the maple. The carriage house was transformed into a bright, lofted kitchen, dining, and living area that spills out to a terrace, while a main entry around the side of the great room finessed the small frontage. Two en suite bedrooms and a flex room were added behind the great room. And a thin art gallery connects the great room with a primary suite and office on the other side of the lot that gaze into the red maple canopy.
“I had to create an almost enveloping scheme that would shelter them from the surrounding properties,” Colleen says. The clients’ love of color led to punchy, painted fiber cement cladding combined with crisp white board-and-batten siding and charcoal-colored wall planes that ground the composition.
Its joyful freshness was not lost on the judges. “On a flag lot, the house develops a strong character in a different way from just the strong rigor we tend to gravitate toward as architects,” one said.
Citation
Renovation
Colleen Healey Architecture
Red Maple House
Bethesda, Maryland
Project Credits
Architect: Colleen Healey, AIA, Colleen Healey Architecture, Washington, D.C.
Builder: Cabin John Builders, Cabin John, Maryland
Lighting consultant: Illuminations, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Project size: 3,300 square feet
Site size: 11,000 square feet
Construction cost: Withheld
Photography: Jennifer Hughes Photography
Key Products
Cabinetry: Stuart Kitchens
Cladding: Stucco and HardiePanel
Entry doors/ Windows: Pella
Faucets: Broan, Kohler, Hansgrohe
Insulation: Huber ZIP System Sheathing
Lighting: Progress Lighting
Lighting control systems: Lutron
Paints: Benjamin Moore
Range: JennAir
Security systems: Ring
Sinks: Blanco, Kohler
Skylights: VELUX
Structural weatherization: Blueskin
Toilets: TOTO
Tubs: Kohler
Ventilation: Panasonic Whisper
Window shading systems: Lutron
