PROJECT Red Maple House
ARCHITECT Colleen Healey Architecture, LLC
LOCATION  Bethesda, Maryland US

PROJECT COMPLETION DATE  3/10/2021
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEAM  Colleen Healey, AIA
OWNER/CLIENT
CONTRACTOR/CONSTRUCTION MANAGER  Cabin John Builders / Josh Rosenthal and Neal Rosenthal
PHOTOGRAPHER  Jennifer Hughes
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
CIVIL ENGINEER
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
MECHANICAL ENGINEER
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
CONSULTANT Illuminations DC / Ronni Glasier
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SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
The Red Maple House sits at the end of a pipestem lot housing an old carriage house, parceled off from a larger lot to the East. The carriage house was small and in disrepair, but a beautiful mature Red Maple Tree in the middle of the lot was thriving. In this renovation, for a young family of two kids and three dogs, preserving that tree was a driving force of the design.

The entrance to the house is tucked away to the side of the house. Guests enter on the compressed edge of the site, only to be welcomed in to the great room and an unexpected expansive garden beyond. The middle of the site is thus preserved for outdoor entertaining as an extension of the home through large sliding doors.

We pared back the carriage house to its original footprint, removed the roof, and turned it into a new great room with a kitchen, dining and living space that opens to the courtyard. On the other side of the site, a new second building, set a half level up from the original, houses the primary bedroom suite and an office.

The two buildings, sitting on either side of the maple tree, are connected by a low gallery space, clad on the interior in unfinished white oak slats with a window seat at the base of the tree. The oak slats weave together the stretched out house across the site. Both buildings are clad in dark stucco at the base. On top of that base, pitched roof volumes face the tree, providing views up into the tree canopy. The great room volume is clad on the exterior in a series of colorful panels woven between windows that extend past the thick roof trusses to the underside of the roof.

We poured new concrete slabs in the original house and extended them into some of the new spaces. Left exposed and polished, the industrial floors blend with the exposed ductwork and steel framing of the great room. The original garage door opening became the window at the kitchen sink, utilizing the thickness of the original deep walls for a deep plant filled South facing windowsill.

Small ancillary spaces off of the main rooms make the house feel much larger than the 3300sf of its footprint. A homework nook and a home office with internal windows into the sunlit stair hall provide for flex space as the family grows. Solar shades protect the main windows in the morning and the massing of the great room shades the courtyard in the afternoon. Other sustainability features include high efficiency heating and cooling systems as well as prewire for EV and solar panel install. Most importantly, the design approach, both in its low profile in height and its site footprint, allowed for the preservation of the Red Maple Tree, an original piece of the site that is thriving in its spot nestled amongst this new home.

JURY COMMENTS (If applicable)

The jury found itself drawn to this home for its exuberant design and playful use of color. With a careful eye, one can see traces of the previous home find its way into the renovation. The site responsiveness is exceptional, with a low profile and deep setback the home has a sensitively light footprint. The diligence taken to preserve and celebrate the on-site Maple tree should serve as a case study for similar sites. 

MEDIA FOR DOWNLOAD
Project PDF

IMAGES (Captions and Photographer Credit)
1. Overall Exterior View _ Jennifer Hughes Photography
2. Approach Exterior View _ Jennifer Hughes Photography
3. View toward Sunken Courtyard _ Jennifer Hughes Photography
4. Kitchen View _ Jennifer Hughes Photography
5. Stair_ Jennifer Hughes Photography
6. Exterior View_ Jennifer Hughes Photographer
7. Night View of Approach_ Jennifer Hughes Photography
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