Page 68 - ArchDC_Fall 2020

The House/Pool/Garden project as seen from the street. The pool is between,
and parallel to, the line of plantings and the façade of the house.
Washingtonian Residential Design Award

House/Pool/Garden
Washington, DC

McInturff Architects
Landscape Architects: Lila Fendrick Landscape Architecture
and Garden Design
Structural Engineers: 1200 Architectural Engineers
General Contractor: Zantzinger Inc. North façade and pool.

“This urban house was designed by its setbacks,” said
McInturff Architects in the awards competition entry. Dining area, with the kitchen in the
The house’s site is long and narrow, with streets to the west left background and the open corridor
connecting the bedrooms above.
and north, an alley to the east, and an adjacent property along
the south side. The legally buildable area was severely restricted,
leaving little leeway for positioning a house large enough to
meet the clients’ needs (even though they were far from lavish
by today’s standards). The clients also requested a lap pool—75
feet long in order to accommodate their fitness regimens—and
while the pool could be situated outside the building restriction
lines, it added another significant constraint to the site plan.
The architects’ solution, while distinctly modern in its
materials and massing, evokes the historic side-porch houses
of Charleston, South Carolina. The main entry is at one of the
narrow ends of the house, and it leads directly into an open
living and dining area, followed by the kitchen and a bedroom.
A continuous porch runs along the north side, overlooking
the parallel lap pool and garden. Upstairs are the remaining
bedrooms, connected by a circulation space open to the living
areas below. To enhance privacy, louvered panels partially
shield some of the large windows along the pool-facing façade.
“Neither the house nor the garden or pool would make
sense without the others,” the architects contend. As it happens,
the combination yields a uniquely harmonious composition of
architecture and landscape.
This project was previously covered in the Spring 2020 issue
of ARCHITECTUREDC.

All photos © Anice Hoachlander/
66 METROPOLITAN HOMES Hoachlander Davis Photography