Old Metairie Residence
Exploring the many version of duality through architecture.
Category
Custom Residential
Location
Old Metairie, LA
Size
7,400 SF
Year
2012
This 1.5-story home in Old Metairie is designed to comfortably accommodate a couple, with additional bedrooms to host their visiting family. Situated on a corner lot, the home presents two facades which reflect the two different characters of the spaces that it comprises. The main façade, on Northline Street, presents a formal, nearly symmetrical face to the street with strict geometric landscaping. Around the corner, the facade that gives onto the side street is protected by a walled garden and layered planting, creating a more private, intimate family space. This double character in the elevations is equally present in the plan, where the ground floor is arranged in two visual axes.
From the main entry hall, the visitors are presented with an alignment of spaces allowing a view from the entry through the main stair hall and formal living room to the pool, culminating in a water feature at the terminus. To the left of the entry, the formal dining room welcomes visitors. Perpendicular to this formal “entertaining axis” is a secondary circulation axis connecting the walled garden and side entry to the main stair hallway and terminating at the entry to the suite of rooms for the owners of the house. This cross axis connects the master wing to the family room, kitchen, and garage, which disrupt the formal symmetry of the plan but create a point of asymmetrical balance with the pool. Guest rooms, used on the occasion of family visits, are tucked under the roof above the stair hall.