Page 20 - ArchDC_Spring 2020

The house as seen from the deck.

But the undertaking wasn’t a completely foreign maintaining a simple, clear idea, focusing on how
one either, she added. “We’ve done a few renovations materials came together, and selecting materials that
on our home in Arlington—a 1901 farmhouse—so worked in the context of the site, so as to meet the
I knew what it was like to design something for vision and the budget.” For example, “we selected a
ourselves. The pace of work on this project was siding material that is dimensionally stable so that the
constant but not urgent, so I felt that we had the corners could be mitered without corner trim.”
opportunity to enjoy the journey. It helped that the A subtle but powerful element in the cabin’s
builder was very involved and we really liked working design is the use of a datum, meaning a line that runs
together. Although the project had a different kind through the design as a central organizing device. The
of program and a different scale, it was similar to cabin’s datum is a horizontal line at the seven-foot level
my work at cg+s in terms of the way we think about on both the exterior and interior that helps give the
making buildings.” She also had a little support from scheme an effortless sense of harmony.
her colleagues. “I didn’t bring the project into the office, “I spent a lot of time working out how the different
but two architects helped with drafting of the permit materials worked to the seven-foot datum,” Schmickel
documents—Derek Banocy, AIA, and Lexa Rio, AIA.” said. “On the outside, the datum organizes doors,
In a small project like this one, the details matter. windows, and siding. The siding is eight inches high
“The design parti [i.e., the basic design concept] below the datum, and then changes to a faster rhythm
was simple, so the effort turned to the execution of of four-inch siding above it.” On the inside, meanwhile,
details,” Schmickel said. “I put a lot of attention into “the datum organizes the various materials—the
Attached porch.
18 DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH