The house 2,300 sf single-family residence on a very small inner city lot, in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta. The neighborhood is one of the city’s oldest, ravaged by the Great Fire of 1917 and, more recently, by a new freeway half of a block from the site.

The design intent is to create the presence of a house in a transitional neighborhood that is as formally complex as it is social connected, and as exposed and public as it is private and protected.  The rooms of the house are stacked one upon each other, shifting to allow views to neighboring parcels, cantilevering to cover private exterior spaces, and advancing to the primary street with a front porch. 

Four stories are incorporated into the sequence of the house, connected by a single stair.  The primary floor is double-height, allowing for a mezzanine office to overlook public rooms. At the center of the house a skylight pierces the roof and upper level to bring natural light to the main level, providing visual, spatial, and acoustic connections between the floors.

The exterior of the house is intentionally darkened and textured.  Each of the cement panels has between 5 and 12 coats of various colors, sheens, and mixtures of spray, rolled, and brushed paint applied, in varied combinations and densities.  As the house ages, layers of paint will be left to erode, and unexpected colors will be revealed.  This process of un-painting and decomposition is accepted as a fundamental character of the house as a reflection of the larger historical context of the neighborhood and the city.