Project Description
The EL House turns openness inward. The house lies within Houston’s first ring of post-WWII suburban development. Sites like this one are subject to extraordinary contemporary pressures of value – because of these sites’ proximity to the central city – and volume – because of a perceived imperative to maximize the envelope. Houston’s maximized envelopes inevitably translate to minimized yards, particularly side setbacks. Windows are pressed against neighboring walls or, worse still, against neighboring windows. The result: “looking out” is futile while “looking in” offers myriad opportunities. Our response: 1) a circular courtyard opens up the middle of the house, 2) a series of notches are cut into the perimeter to create private wells around the house’s edges, and 3) the windows are arrayed to foster an ever-changing series of views binding together the house’s interior and exterior relationships. Framed openings lead from a room to an exterior and back to another room, from upper level to lower level, from front to back, and from side to side. The EL House is at once a courtyard house and a web of enfilade relationships: “wobbly axis” enfilades that stitch together interiors, exteriors, sunlight, air, social organizations, rooms, and landscapes.