Residential architect '04 Design Awards

Residential Architect, May, 2004 by Meghan Drueding, Cheryl Weber, Nigel F. Maynard, Shelley D. Hutchins

principal in charge: Roger Ferris, AIA, Roger Ferris Partners; project architect: Robert Marx, AIA, Roger Ferris Partners; general contractor: The S.B.E, Company, Fairfield, Conn.; Interior designer: Interior Design, Westport, Conn.; project size: 1,500 square feet; site size: 0.25 acre; construction cost: Withheld; photographer: Woodruff/Brown Photography. See page 128 for product information.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

custom / 3,500 square feet or less merit

eleventh street residence, santa monica, calif.

koning eizenberg architecture

santa monica

to meet their clients' slim budget for this Santa Monica, Calif., custom home, Koning Eizenberg Architecture decided to think of it as a "Crate and Barrel" house. "We wanted to do something with good spaces but that wasn't overly customized," explains principal Julie Eizenberg. "A house that would fit into Crate and Barrel's product line if they sold houses."

Eizenberg and project architect Oonagh Ryan graced the simple Modem box with a few big gestures. A pop-out master bedroom window and balcony adds texture and interest to the rear elevation while bringing extra light into the room. Downstairs, a rear wall of mostly glass brings indoors and outdoors together. Ingenious use of everyday products, such as painted MDF grooved by the contractor for a beadboard effect, cut costs while supplying the clients with the design quality they expected. "It's a very economical little house," noted a judge.--m.d.

principal in charge: Julie Eizenberg, Koning Eizenberg Architecture; project architect: Oonagh Ryan, Koning Eizenberg Architecture; general contractor: William Gorton, William Kent Development, Tarzana, Calif.; project size: 2,940 square feet; site size: 0.17 acre; construction cost: $167 per square foot; photographer: Benny Chan/Fotoworks. See page 128 for product information.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

custom / 3,500 square feet or less merit

mckeough house, block island, r.i.

estes/twombly architects

newport, r.i.

this Block Island retreat keeps the island's architectural tradition of spare buildings intended to withstand harsh conditions. Architect Jim Estes started with two distinctly indigenous forms--sharply peaked dormers and a low-sloping porch--and designed basic building blocks that could be moved around like Monopoly pieces until he hit upon a winning combination. "We wanted the porch to become more than a tacked-on feature, and we hinged living spaces around that idea," says Estes.

The jury applauded the home's modest scale and see-through middle created by the continuous porch that encompasses entry and living areas before capitulating as a covered terrace along the rear waterfront elevation. Painted exposed rafters support the gently sloped ceiling to maintain a porch feel inside as well as out. Carefully aligned, oversized windows in a footprint only one room deep add to the home's transparency, while an asymmetrical pulling apart of the dormered volumes helps diminish the apparent size of an already small house.--s.d.h.