Ruhl Walker Architects

There has been some real progress recently on our transformation of a speculatively-built “Garrison Colonial” house in suburban Boston. Since we first posted the design back in June, 2011, you will notice that there have been some substantial changes, namely to keep more of the existing house’s shell including its gabled roof. This was initially proposed as a cost-savings measure, and even though it didn’t ultimately result in substantial cost savings, the owner preferred keeping more of the original house for sentimental reasons. The excavated basement is also no longer going to include a lap pool; instead the space will be used as a home theater and guest suite. Last week we had steel and concrete, this week we can see the actual form of the “new” house!

Just as construction of our Mystic Lake house was winding down, the neighbor’s house was demolished and construction began on their own new house; what goes around, comes around! And soon winter will have to arrive presumably; other than an odd snowfall around Halloween we’ve escaped so far. So, we will have to wait to do a full (professional) photo shoot until spring. In the meantime, our client shared the lovely photos below.

Ruhl Walker’s modern house on Mystic Lake is nearing completion and the owners have moved in, while meanwhile crews are still scrambling to finish the exterior. In fact, work is still on-going on the inside too, so living in the house is quite a challenge! But the movers had already been rescheduled twice, everything was packed, and the construction crews doubled down to make at least a partial move-in possible.

The interior stair railings were recently completed, after two separate steel fabricators’ equipment broke while trying to drill holes in the stainless steel posts for the cable rail system. The off-the-shelf railing system – by the Italian company Indital – was substantially less flexible and customizable than anticipated, but the installers went above and beyond to make everything work out smoothly in the end.  Painters, tilers, carpenters, plasterers, plumbers, electricians, and landscape crews all competed for the same limited time and space.  Everyone was trying their best to overcome the time lost to inclement weather over the brutal winter and wet spring.

One highlight of this last few weeks was the delivery of the dozens of slabs of granite, bought for next to nothing from the general contractor working on IKEA’s new store in Somerville; without our intrepid (and persistent) client, all of the granite curbs would have been dumped at a landfill, but are now beautifully choreographed per Matthew Cunningham’s brilliant landscape design. Saving money and being “green”…

So, with a month left before the babies are due, every day is still full of noise and commotion, but the end is in sight, and the magnificent views of the lake are at least a calming influence after the crews leave…

Exterior view from the street; lots of landscape work still on-going, as well as a sizable exterior punch list.	The street side of the house is relatively solid, with cedar screen partitions providing some extra privacy for bath and laundry windows.
The front door will ultimately be translucent, but for the moment you get a sliver of the lake view.	The main living space cantilevers 6’ out from the lower level; adjacent to the living room is a roof deck with wide steps leading down to the yard and lake.
Another view of the deck stairs and the custom stainless steel railing system, including “baby proof” gates.	The slate tile and honed absolute black granite fireplace surround; still to come is the walnut panel for the TV niche, and the stainless steel mesh AV cabinet below.
The stair is almost complete; risers and treads are maple, as is the screen wall that also conceals structure for the landing and extends down into the partially finished basement.	The elegant railing joints are actually standard off-the-shelf stainless steel elements, as are the posts and all of the cable rail fittings.

We are thrilled that our Westport clients are enjoying living in their new river front house, after recently having received their Certificate of Occupancy from the town! There is still an extensive punch list to complete, but after such a long, snowy winter and an unusually rainy spring, that first coffee on the new deck was extra special…

We do our best to address our clients’ expectations throughout the design and construction process; but because every client is so unique, each project has its own unique and ever-changing set of expectations.  In most cases the design process is quite fun, perhaps because the focus is on hopes and dreams.  But most of our clients would not describe the construction process as fun… Maintaining some perspective is the goal, remembering that there is an end to the often stressful process, and trying to find some humor in the occasionally ridiculous process of residential construction. In this case, the focus was on that mid-summer coffee on the deck, watching the river flow by…

Exterior view, river side; the upper level has a master bedroom on the left, living / dining room in the middle, and screened porch on the right, and the lower level has two additional bedrooms, family room, bathroom, and abundant storage.	Close-up of steel stair leading down to the river from the raised deck and screened porch.
Living room view facing the screened porch, accessible through the Nana Wall door system; interior floors are bleached Ash and porch and deck flooring is sustainably harvested mahogany.	The new kitchen with bleached walnut cabinetry and Ash floors.
Interior stairs connecting renovated lower level and new upper level; stairs are bleached ash and lower level floors are stained concrete.	Screened porch view facing into main living / dining space; eventually the far wall will have bleached walnut and honed black slate paneling.
View of Westport River from screened porch; stainless steel railings have been installed since this photo was taken.	The first coffee and NY Times on the new deck…

It was a long, snowy winter in New England, and new houses and their owners, contractors, and architects suffered more headaches than we have in many years.  Hard to remember how lucky we’ve been in past winters while shoveling out feet of fresh new snow week after week… But despite the challenges, the house we designed on Mystic Lake in suburban Boston is now only a month away from completion, thanks to the efforts of the general contractor, Berkshire Wilton Partners and their team, as well as an enlightened client who also happens to be an architect. Budget challenges (opportunities!) never end, but the geothermal well is behind us, as is the unexpected shoring up of the site, most of the exterior roofing and siding, and all of the rough mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work, and related decisions.  Interior trim (all set in flush with the walls) and plastering is mostly completed, tile is well along, and the stairs are going in this week. The owners are getting excited about the end of construction and the beginning of the joy of actually living lake-side; we’re sure they won’t miss the bi-weekly requisitions for payment this summer… Check back with us soon for updated photos once the dust settles inside!

The house viewed from across the lake.	The cantilevered volume of the main living space on the left, and the cantilevered study on the right, surrounds a two story exterior roof deck that will eventually have wide steps leading down to the lake. Above the study is another roof deck, adjacent to the master bedroom. The lower level will eventually house a media room and large playroom (and twins are due in September…).
The volume of the main living space cantilevers six feet on the side and four feet towards the lake.	The street side of the house is substantially more private and enclosed than the lake side. The upper middle portion of this side of the house will be sheathed in horizontal cedar slats to provide some extra privacy for a laundry room and bathrooms.
The windows and glass doors on the left open onto the roof deck overlooking the lake. Beyond is an elevated fireplace and the glass wall of the living space.	View of the thirteen foot high wall of windows of the cantilevered main living space, seen from the dining area and open kitchen.
Exterior siding is a collage of fiber cement panels separated by aluminum reveals, and fiber cement clapboards with mitered corners.	Mockups of options being considered for the slatted wall detail. The final decision was 1.5” x 1.5” cedar slats running horizontally and separated by 2”, which will allow for light to filter in during the day, and out at night.
Not sure the neighbors loved the incredibly noisy week long process of drilling the geothermal well in the front yard, but presumably the owners and the environment will…

Ruhl Walker Architects was hired by a young couple — he a high tech consultant for a bio-tech company, she an MIT-trained corporate architect — to design a new house for a steeply sloping site along lower Mystic Lake in Arlington, MA.  An existing house was slowly crumbling into its site, its concrete block foundation failing and its dimensions uninspiring, so demoliton was job number one in the project brief.  Our clients asked for a reasonably sized house by today’s standards, with an above-ground lower level being unfinished but available for future use; a main level consisting of a large, open living / dining / cooking space, an entry hall with sculptural stair, a separate multi-purpose space to accomodate a sewing passion and home office, and a two car garage, with a courtyard deck in the center; and an upper level with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an exercise room, and a roof deck off of the master bedroom.  The owners did not exactly see eye to eye on the look of the exterior, which was quite an adventure during early design meetings, but a reasonable solution made all parties happy in the end.  The general conotractor is Berkshire Wilton Partners of Newton, MA and  Wilton, CT.  Landscape architecture will be by one of our favorite collaborators,  Matthew Cunningham.  Interiors will be by Ruhl Walker Architects.

The new house steps down its steeply sloped site, with the living room cantilevering out beyond its above ground basement. The heart of the house is a courtyard / deck facing the lake, between the living room on the left and the sewing room on the right.	The living room cantilevers six feet out from the lower level on the left, and the sewing room cantilevers out beyond the basement on the right.
The north side of the cantilevered living room is mostly solid, with a fireplace and A/V equipment inside.	View down from the roof deck off of the master bedroom; the upper roof deck will be sun-soaked most of the time, while the lower courtyard deck will provide much needed summer shade.
The main living / dining / cooking space is fourteen feet high at the lake end, and nine feet high at the dining room and kitchen.	The central entry / stair hall has an eighteen foot high window opening out to the lake.
View of Mystic Lake from the master shower window.	The existing house; curb appeal, but failing structure.

Currently under construction on the banks of the Westport River, in Westport, MA, is a house we designed for a general contractor and his wife. Reed / Hildebrand is landscape architect and interior design will be by Diane Cramphin of Oblio Design.

The couple bought a simple 1980′s “saltbox” a few years ago, with the dream of knocking the house down and starting over with a fresh, modern design. One of the homeowners had grown up in a modern house in Virginia, and wanted to have a low-slung house that opened up to its beautiful, river-side setting. They called for removing the existing three story house and replacing it with a single story house that would include a large, open living / dining / cooking space that would open through a Nana Wall door to a large living / dining screened porch. Also on the main floor will be a master suite and an office that could double as a guest bedroom. Because the house is built on a hill, the main floor will be built on top of the existing foundation, and the lower level will include two guest bedrooms and a family room, as well as storage below the screened porch.

The design parti is two bars shifting past each other, with the space between the two bars being the main circulation zone. The bar on the river side will be taller and longer than the inland bar, and is defined by a ten foot high by eighty-four foot long wall of glass and screens, defined within a continuous frame; the river bar “floats” above the base, which is reconfigured as a landscape feature covered with vines. The inland bar is sheathed in shingles with deeply inset windows asymmetrically organized based on practical needs for light and cross ventilation. Construction is expected to be completed in June, 2011, but we’ll keep you posted on progress in this blog.

The new house floats above its river side site.	Digital model image.
Steel structure is in place, and framing is on-going.	On the north end of the house, the master bedroom cantilevers six feet beyond two concrete pilotis.
The two bars are evident at the north end of the house; between them is the main circulation spine.	The inland bar floats above its concrete base.
The river will be visible through the new screened porch.	The riverside bar floats above a base that will accommodate off-season storage, and that will be sheathed with cedar slats held apart for ventilation.
Upon entering the main living space, the river appears.	The main living space will be sixty feel long, separated by an operable wall, with fireplaces at both ends; half of the space will be screened.
View from master bedroom.	Rick's office will also have river views.
Though there was no real attachment to the existing house, demolition is still almost always emotionally traumatic.

Having recently completed construction of this renovation and addition in Duxbury, we are currently working with the owners on the last phases of furnishings and interior design.

The owners’ previous home − a commanding ship captain’s house built in 1851 − was just around the corner, and they had grown tired of maintaining its 17 rooms and extensively landscaped grounds, including a five−acre arboretum designed in 1939 by Woodward Manning. The couple and their twin sons wanted to substantially downsize, and to create a more light−filled, contemporary house in keeping with their modern lifestyle and passion for cooking. When a fixer−upper essentially in their backyard came on the market, they leapt at the chance to create their dream house.

The house they purchased – an 1850s “Cape” – had not aged well, and several ill−conceived 1960’s vintage additions as well as a crumbling, attached barn, had to be removed. This left the original small house to be restored to its former glory and transformed into bedrooms and baths for the boys in the original living and dining rooms, a library with wide−plank pine floorboards and wainscoting salvaged from the original barn, and two guest rooms and a bath upstairs. We then designed a fresh addition to the rear, intended to be perceived as an attached, modern barn from the street.  It’s virtually all glass towards the south, away from the neighbors’ prying eyes. Within the addition are an open, two−story−high living / dining / kitchen, a screened porch, a sitting room that could serve as a bedroom in the future, a master suite above, and a garage and billiards room below. The main living space is awash in sunlight virtually all day long, modulated with a distinctive vocabulary of interior and exterior architectural slats. On the inside, the slats form an architectural screen made of horizontal cherry wood louvers, wrapping the fireplace surround in the living room, a stair wall behind, a balcony railing above, and a partial height screen wall in the sleeping area at the top. The shed roof of the “barn” addition is curved on the inside in order to enhance the diffusion of light both day and night, and also conceals ductwork.

Off of the screened porch is a new landscaped courtyard with swimming pool, walled off from the street and defined to the side by a Ruhl Walker designed pool house, and open towards the new tennis court in the backyard. The wife, now relieved of her previous maintenance regimen, including her dump truck and commercial mowers, is especially enjoying this new, low−maintenance landscaping, and the time she now has to concentrate on her family, her catering business and creating edible wonders in her light−filled kitchen.

Digital model image showing "barn" addition at left and original house in upper right.	Digital model views of interior slatted enclosureside view of house with original Cape at right, new barn addition at left, and master bath tower in the middle.
Southern end of barn addition with cantilevered breakfast room.	View of barn addition with shed roof and continuous clerestorey windows that bring southern daylight deep into the house in winter original house, from the street, with additions beyond.
The entry hall doubles as dining space, with new living room up 3 steps.	After leaving the limestone clad foyer and stepping up the 3 steps, you enter the double height living space, awash with sunlight and wrapped on 3 sides by the cherry wood slatted enclosure the cherry wood slatted enclosure wraps around the master bedroom loft; below is the catering kitchen and pantry by Arclinea.
The glass walled breakfast room cantilevers out 6' from the house.	Behind the slatted enclosure of the new living room is an open riser stair leading up to the master suite, and down to the billiards room and garage.
A sitting room on the main floor provides some quiet space, and is designed so that some day it could become an accessible bedroom.	Slatted walls of the guest bath follow the exterior detailing.