Sandpiper

This new residence for a married surfing couple with a growing family is sited on a 50’x125’ property located mid-block in a barrier island community. The infill-development site is bound by built-out residential lots to the south, southeast, east, and northwest respectively, a vacant, low-lying lot to the west, and a neighborhood road to the north. Across the street to the north exists a neighborhood elementary school which the owners consider a unique design opportunity for its lively hustle and bustle during school hours and reliable peaceful nature when school is not in session.

The building is a three-story-split level solution sited to create two different components; one component being a private wing housing spaces on a “half level”, the other component being more public, with a strong relationship to the outdoors, decks, lawn, and views of the streetscape, schoolyard, and courtyard. The public portion of the house contains the main living areas, generally spaces which generate the noises, smells, and fun for a family that intends to walk around in wet trunks and sandy feet. The more private portion of the house is located on the “half-level”, less accessible to the rest of the house, so as to create a place for seclusion, retreat, and respite.

The entry is located on the ground level visible from the street, close to guest and garage parking. Through a ground-level foyer the enclosed stair to the upper levels is accessed in conditioned space, not out in the weather. Achieving privacy from neighbors while capitalizing on the public exposure of the site is a driving force in the design of the house. The notion that the degree or level of privacy changes as the house grows taller is reflected in the architectural concept.

The basic part of the structure resembles a side-yard Charleston-Style home with an “L-shaped” plan. The courtyard is sited along the southern side of the site with a swimming pool where all spaces, public and private have a view to the activities below.

The exterior shell of the house is constructed entirely of steel-reinforced insulated concrete forms as a response to the hurricane prone region and the clients’ interest in creating a super-insulated, mold-proof building. The building is covered with four simple roof forms. The first, lowest roof is a low-slope pitch draining to the north side of the house where all rain-water is harvested in cisterns and used to flush toilets and other grey-water uses. The second roof is the upper roof deck/garden planted with vegetation and gravel gardens where the owners intend to entertain from the roof-top rec-room. The third roof covers the rec-room and the fourth roof covers the screened porch on the street-side of the building.

The owner’s expressed a fondness of the Spartan “Tico” style of architecture they appreciated in their travels to surfing destinations in Costa Rica. This architectural style is adapted and made to better serve the North Carolina climate by rendering all wooden portions of the structure on the outside of the house in a deep, dark hue set against the backdrop of a clean stucco palette, and through the use of tried and true southern land-planning strategies.