A professor's retreat
A few years after losing her husband, an author and professor of Native American Studies decided it was the moment to build her dream house in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She had previously lived in the same neighborhood and loved the community, so she decided to stay and purchase a beautiful lot that faced Morgan Creek, surrounded by the North Carolinian wilderness.
With the idea of downsizing from her previous 3,200 sqft residence, she ended up with a custom designed home, efficient and comfortable with a total heated area of 1,600 square feet. Arielle Condoret Schechter, the local architect behind the design and execution of this quaint retreat, specializes in modern, energy-efficient homes.
When Condoret met the professor, she quickly realized that she needed her new home to be a place where she could comfortably host big groups of people, an inviting residence that could welcome the neighbors —even— from the exterior. "I designed the front to act like a 'beacon' when the lights are turned on. The neighbors would be welcomed with the light coming from the rooms as they walk up, kind of like a lantern lighting the way," explains the architect.
After a few minutes in the professor's residence we quickly realize that all the rooms revolve around one big area; an ample, open living and dining great room with generous windows that features a double sided fireplace that opens to both the living room and the office behind.
Some of the final design features are: a wall space to display the professor's Native American artifacts, an electric car charging station, a Japanese Ofuro soaking tub overlooking a tiny courtyard, and a private deck on the back of the residence, facing a spectacular dropped pool.
Do you have a favorite part of the house, why?
ACS: My favorite part personally is the back of the house. It is quiet there facing the woods and I designed very deep sheltering roofs so that she and her friends could sit outside in any kind of weather and still enjoy the view.
Did you get any feedback from the owner, once she was settled in?
ACS: She has been very kind with her praise and says she “absolutely loves” her house and calls it “magnificent"! This makes me very happy. That's the whole point of being an architect and rendering a design service to make our client's lives better.
What did you learn from the project? Anything you will apply in the future?
ACS: I learned so much. I learned to be more adventurous with my detailing. I did a siding detail on this project and it turned out very well. I’d like to experiment more with different ways to detail the exterior finishes with less expensive materials.
View of the spectacular dropped pool in the back of the house. ©Keith Isaacs Photo
At the beginning of the design process, the professor wanted to purchase one of the architect's Micropolis Houses® designs, but, Arielle explains, "very quickly it became apparent that her needs were very specific so it would be better for us to do a custom design for her. We switched to that and the design process flowed incredibly easily."
The Micropolis Houses®
Arielle wanted to fill a gap in the world of small houses, where she found hard to find thoughtfully designed residences that could be built on a foundation. She decided to create a line of energy efficient homes that ranged from 785 sqft (Little Ant™) to 1272 sqft (Modie's Mod Micropolis House®) and were easy to heat and cool, less expensive to build, use fewer materials and could achieve Net Zero Energy.
"I wanted to make simple, clean lined, well-lit and comfortable designs that could be sold in very affordable plan sets that people could build themselves or via a contractor,"says Arielle.
The Micropolis Houses® idea was born after lots of experiences Condoret had both growing up, and then when she renovated a tiny house right out of architecture school, "I tore down most of the interior walls and put in a huge window into a new tall South facing wall. The space was beautiful and glowed. The sunlight reached deep into the space in the cold winter months, warming everything," she explains.
An advocate of smaller, more efficient spaces, architect Arielle Condoret was also concerned about affordability. "I knew that a lot of people can’t afford to hire architects, which I’ve always found very unfair and sad, since I know they will be stuck with whatever development houses are available. In general I don’t think that most development tract houses are very good in either their design or construction. I think people deserve better."
Arielle is working on over 20 different Micropolis Houses® new designs to put on the market. To learn more about her practice and her small, sustainable, affordable designs, visit her website www.acsarchitect.com
Photography: ©Keith Isaacs Photo
Architecture and design: Arielle Condoret Schechter, PLLC, AIA.
