Architectural Record 2015-04

96
ARCHITECTURAL RECORD APRIL 2015 BUILDING TYPE STUDY RECORD HOUSES
corridor around the opening contrast with the ground
floor’s white finishes. Sunlight penetrates the skylight to
cast a brilliant, shifting rectangle of light across bleachedwood
floors, while the glass balustrades catch glittering
reflections of outdoor views.
The only interior divider on the ground floor is a long
cabinet that stops just below the ceiling, separating the
kitchen from the hall. With the clean lines of the kitchen’s
island and classic pieces of modern furniture such as Arne
Jacobsen’s Egg Chair, selected by interior designer Andrés
Alfaro Hofmann, the interiors inevitably draw comparisons
to the open living spaces of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth
House or Philip Johnson’s Glass House. But Silvestre adds
the vertical thrust of the stair hall to his fluid, horizontal
spaces and solves the privacy problems of sleeping areas
with a conventional bedroom floor upstairs. A full basement
includes guest rooms that overlook a sunken light court
facing a side yard. The resulting design is uncompromisingly
direct and minimal, bringing together in one neat package
the familiar elements of the single-family house.
The project required some structural sleight-of-hand to
arrive at this simplicity of line. The entire house stands on
four columns, which rise two stories through the short lateral
walls to support the roof’s concrete vault. The bedroom
floor is suspended from this vault via high-strength concrete
panels hidden in the partitions. By routing plumbing and
other services through the building’s thick side walls,
Silvestre could leave the ground floor ceiling completely free
of interruptions. To counter the horizontal thrust of the
vault, a concrete tension ring girdles the building at the level
of the balcony balustrades. The two overhangs are counter-