Page 64 - Winter_2018

ArchDC Winter 2018.qxp_Winter 2018 11/27/18 9:39 AM Page 62

Main living space.

Street façade of the Hull House, with driveway to the right. Photos © Paul Warchol

Washingtonian Award for Excellence stone—quarried in nearby Bethesda, Maryland—which
enhances privacy. As with the gables, the stone wall is
Hull House simultaneously evocative both of the region’s Colonial-era
Alexandria, VA masonry architecture and of natural, rocky outcroppings.
Between the smooth copper roof and the rough, grey stone
David Jameson Architect wall are large triangular windows that are alternately
reflective or transparent, depending on lighting conditions.
Lighting Designers: David Tozer
Inside, the multi-crested roof translates into an origami-
Structural Engineers: Structura
like folded-plane ceiling, the peaks and valleys of which
MEP Engineers: Foley Mechanical Inc.
define subspaces within the largely open plan. Y-shaped
General Contractor: PureForm Builders
columns support the roof and add linear counterpoints to
the planar surfaces. A boxy, wood-clad volume containing
In the design process, constraints can become opportunities.
the garage thrusts into the main living space. One inward-
The historic district that includes this property in Alexandria,
facing wall of the box conceals kitchen cabinetry and
Virginia, requires houses to have sloped roofs. David
appliances, while its top plane serves as the floor for a
Jameson, FAIA, exploited that requirement to create a
mezzanine containing a home office. The rear façade of
house with a striking, jagged profile—an irregular series
the house is almost entirely glass, affording views to a
of copper-clad gables that allude to the more traditional
pool deck and yard.
architecture of nearby houses while also evoking craggy
The Hull House—so named because its shape
mountain ranges such as those of the American West.
reminded Jameson of the hull of a boat—was previously
On the house’s street façade, the gables peek out
featured in the Summer 2018 issue of ARCHITECTUREDC.
from behind a burly, windowless wall of Carderock
62 BESPOKE LIVING