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ArchDC Summer 2017.qxp_Summer 2017 5/24/17 10:48 AM Page 36

The House on Little Round Bay,
as seen from the street.

A House of
A House of

One’s Own
One’s Own

Architect Designs a Weekend Retreat

for Himself and His Wife

by Steven K. Dickens, AIA, LEED AP

“More than anything,” said architect Alan Dynerman, FAIA, of On the configuration of the house: “It’s a very simple plan; it’s
his weekend house sited at the widening of the Severn River known a box and a box and a box.” He was referring to the fact that, seen
as Little Round Bay, “we wanted this house to be comfortable.” In from the street, the house appears as three cedar-clad “boxes”
Dynerman’s view, an informal, comfortable house both allows and separated by two narrow slots, one containing a strip of glass and
promotes good conversation. Appropriately enough, this came out the other the front entrance. As the land slopes away, a painted
during a pleasantly rambling interview at the house, in which stucco wall emerges as a base for a horizontal box containing the
probably less than half of the discussion was about the project itself. main living/dining/kitchen space on the upper level, and a family
Dynerman did, however, offer numerous insights into room and guest bedrooms on the lower level. On the opposite side of
the concepts behind the house he designed for himself and his the house is a vertical box that contains the master bedroom on the
wife, Nancy. upper level, an office/library below, and a laundry room and

36 A HOUSE OF ONE’S OWN