Page 59 - Winter_2020

The Convertible Photo © Julia Heine

House Project: House on Tilghman Creek Boyd, AIA, conceived the house as a “convertible”

dwelling, allowing for multiple configurations of
Claiborne, MD
windows and screens depending on specific conditions.
“The dining room and adjacent living room have

Architects: McInturff Architects
Landscape Architects: McHale Landscape Design
Structural Engineers: Baker Ingram & Associates a folding glass wall,” explained McInturff, “but if
you don’t have a screen, that’s not always useful. We
Civil Engineers: Lane Engineering, LLC decided to make a porch right next to these rooms and
Geotechnical Engineers: John D. Hynes & Associates, Inc.
Rainwater Harvesting Consultant: Rainwater Management put screens at the outer boundary. So they can open the
Solutions doors and leave the screens down (or up, if there aren’t
Pool Consultants: Clearwater Pool & Spa Co., Inc. too many bugs), or close off the house and use the
Audiovisual/Security/Automation/Phone/Data Consultants: porch separately.”
Electronic Home Environments In addition, operable casement windows
Contractor: ThinkMakeBuild
throughout the house are shielded by deep overhangs,
so they can be left open for natural ventilation even
easy natural ventilation, which was one of several when it’s raining. All these efforts have paid off. So far,
environment-conscious priorities for the clients. according the McInturff, the clients keep the windows
“They had a strong agenda,” said McInturff of his and folding doors open about 80% of the time in the
clients. The site, which has water on two and a half summer, using air-conditioning only as a last-ditch
sides, enjoys steady, cooling breezes, and the clients measure on the hottest and most humid days.
wanted to take every advantage of that. With that in
mind, McInturff and project architect Christopher

THE CONVERTIBLE HOUSE 57