bentley residence ⌉⌈ scope: full design services / architect of record ⌉⌈ status: on the boards ⌉⌈ location: Darien, IL
design concept
conceived as a mediating, middle ground of a site that 1/3 of its area is as a seasonal flooding action. The architecture of the residence, along with its embracing landscape features, comes to address the dichotomies of tension/compression, inside/outside, and ultimately dry/wet conditions due to weather. The massing of the house is an anti-vernacular composition that resists the use of conventional roof shapes by using mono-slope roofs (the shed).
the tension forces were manifested into the tectonics of the architecture of house in the shifted volumes, making up the house, that creates south-facing patio, and into entry mass that projects out of the min façade leading to a hallway that visually connects the natural and artificial flooding areas at the front and back of the dwelling.
materiality selection of the house` exteriors came to supplement the sculptural approach to the massing concept, the use of local material at the immediate vicinity of the dwelling, and the physical property of the embracing natural landscape of the waxing and waning levels of flood water. The strata stone veneer is referring to the later premise of landscape; while the stucco refers to sculptural property of the massing as well as to the local materials used in in the place.