Ruhl Walker Architects

Houzz is featuring Ruhl Walker’s Westport River House today, in an essay focusing on a design issue we care a lot about, and spend a lot of time and effort on. When designing a custom house, one of the most important design considerations is to recognize solar and wind orientation, views and privacy needs, which of course are not the same on all sides of the building.

You can check out the full portfolio for this project here:

Westport River House

A December 30, 2011 article in the Wall Street Journal‘s Friday Journal focused on architectural regionalism and its reemergence in house design. After decades in which well known architects designed houses that could be seen as idiosyncratic homages to their previous artistic preoccupations and that paid little attention to local climatic realities, architects (and their clients!) are once again finding joy and artistic inspiration in the house’s local surroundings and reinterpreting local traditions in fresh, inventive ways. We can only hope that this catches on with mass production and speculative house builders, which represents the vast majority of our country’s new housing stock…

Here are a few examples from our own portfolio that express our preoccupation with important regional architectural issues.

Having worked on several cool projects in Hawai‘i over the last few years, our eyes have really been opened to architectural possibilities that rarely exist in New England. For example, we collaborated with Rhoady Lee Architecture and Design on the Big Island on a new house near the Four Seasons at Hualalai that had custom motorized rolling walls of glass and teak (detailed by our own Sandra Baron and Lilly Smith!) that disappear into lava rock walls, opening virtually every room in the house to trellised lanais, an edge-less pool, lushly landscaped courtyards, and sweet tropical breezes. So, how can we introduce these exotic possibilities to the custom houses we design in New England?

One answer is through bi-folding glass walls from companies like Nanawall, and we’ve designed several recent houses that utilize their exceptional technology. Our clients wanted to have large screened porches so they could live outdoors spring, summer and fall without the ubiquitous New England mosquitoes and flies, and wondered how they might join those porches to the rest of the house. Voila, we proposed Nanawall doors and something that has traditionally been a barrier in older New England houses becomes an opportunity. Added benefit: makes a great party house even better!

It’s been awhile since we posted an update for our Westport project, the modern house Ruhl Walker Architects designed to float above its Westport River site, and that we introduced back in January and April.  Rick and Susan have moved in and were even able to enjoy the summer while some finish work and landscaping continued. We directly benefited from some of this fun, not only because Rick and Susan were in such good spirits and kept telling us how much they loved their new house, but also because we were treated to an amazing feast with our design partners from Reed Hilderbrand and Oblio Design on August 6^th. Out of a great project experience have grown some wonderful friendships!

A few weeks after the celebration, Will Ruhl returned to discuss the “punch list”, which was unusually short given the excellent craftsmanship provided by the general contractor, Gilman, Guidelli, Bellow, & Co. It was actually more of a list of potential design modifications, minor tweaks to fine tune a few of the built details. Some fun work for Rick to ponder this fall!

Reed Hilderbrand’s landscape design is looking great already, and thanks to a violent rainstorm we witnessed first hand the wonderfully interactive water gathering rock gardens that coordinate perfectly with the house’s scuppers and waterfall element.

We are excited about some publication possibilities that have already come our way; publish or die… Keep tuned in for updates on that!

The east side of the house, viewed from a pea stone parking court.	The front door is on the side of a covered front porch, at the top of a 60” wide mahogany ramp. To the left is a grilling porch, protected from the prevailing breezes by the screened porch beyond.
The windows on the east façade are sized for selected views and to enhance cross ventilation.	The two architectural bars of the house are visible through the woods on the north side of the house. In the foreground on the right is an outdoor shower cube with slatted cedar siding that matches the base of the house.
The house appears to float above its site along the Westport River.	The main living spaces are in the upper, all glass bar of the house, with guest rooms and storage built within existing basement spaces below.
As you approach the house from the river, you become aware that the master bedroom windows on the far left are in a different plane from the living room windows. Between the two is a walnut clad volume that houses a fireplace and closets; this walnut cladding continues inside in both the living room and master bedroom.	60” wide custom galvanized steel and mahogany stairs lead up to an upper deck, adjacent to a large screened porch. Below the screened porch is an open-air storage room protected from the elements by a wall of cedar slats held apart to allow ventilation.
The main living and dining space, along with the screened porch and the master suite, has 10’ ceiling heights, and a wall of glass facing the river. At the end of the space is a wall of bleached walnut paneling around a fireplace clad in black slate. A TV is concealed to the left of the fireplace behind flush walnut paneling.	The dining area is completely open to the kitchen, and finishes in the kitchen match those of the living space. Flooring throughout is bleached Ash.
Kitchen cabinets are bleached walnut. At the right is a floor to ceiling door leading to the grilling deck.	At the end of the compact hallway separating the master suite and home office is a wall of glass with views into the woods and of the roof scupper / waterfall.
Behind the living area is an open stair leading down to a lower level family room. Beyond is a small sitting area with a window that brings in ample morning light.	The west wall of the living / dining space is virtually all glass, with views of the Westport River and glorious sunsets.
One wall of the master bedroom is paneled with walnut, and conceals closets and cabinetry; this material is aligned with the walnut volume visible on the west façade of the house. All built-ins, as well as the bed and side tables are custom designed by Oblio Design.	A closer view of the wall of storage in the master bedroom.
The stair railings inside match the exterior steel railing details, with stainless steel guards and walnut hand rail. The light is aniline dyed wood veneer.	Remember where this all started?...

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…

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.