Project Description
This house for the West River district of New Haven uses the configuration of equipment, aperture and construction to create a gradient of spatial density which either encourages collectivity or isolation. Overlooked by the two neighboring properties, the building’s dense center houses all utilities and circulation extending out to open social spaces that stretch into the urban front and green rear. In a neighborhood with a particular need for adaptable housing, an additional staircase and single stud wall can be ‘plugged’ into the dense center of the house splitting the building into two properties. Formally the building plays with the rhythm of stick framing and timber cladding peeling back in certain areas to dissolve the building into the surrounding context and enhance the inhabitants’ relationship to the neighborhood.