The site I received was on the corner of the neighbor hood block, so I knew when I began to develop my project I either wanted to completely reject or accept the corner condition. I imagined this project in the context of a city block, and decided that if I were to live in this building I would like to have all the comforts of a low rise rural house but within the city.
As I began development, I began to think of one of my favorite precedents and the prime example of peak modernism, the Farnsworth house. Like the Farnsworth house I decided that it was essential to frame my surroundings. However, I wanted to resolve the problem of privacy that the Farnsworth house faced. By using the four simple steps of envelope, extrude, duplicate and sink, and subtract. My building began to take on a form that decreased invasion of privacy and framed the interior of the building and the courtyard, not the outside surroundings.
By using a brick envelope, the Escape house is still semi permeable to light and air on the sides that face the street, and completely open to sunlight and air on the sides that face the courtyard.
The building organization also plays into the theme of privacy. The spaces become increasingly more private as the go further away from the street. Allowing visitors to access the main communal spaces, without ever encroaching on the owners private areas.
The façade of the house is the only point in which the building is fully above ground, allowing access to the garage on the left and the front entrance on the right.
The first floor is mainly taken up by the driveway and the garage. Due to the city living conditions it was a challenge to put in a garage, but a necessary one for me. As having access to a car is something I consider to be a rather rural luxury.
The second floor approaches private spaces like the Farnsworth house does. By compacting all the necessary, yet private spaces into a module among the side wall. The escape house offers as much open floor as it can. By doing so the view into the courtyard is framed.
Additionally, as privacy increases as you shy away from the street, ceiling height decreases. As it is more necessary in spaces such as the foyer, but less in non-entertaining spaces like the bedroom.
The second floor sits a few feet below the courtyard, making the viewing angle into the courtyard, right at eye level
In relation to my neighbor Michelle. The courtyard is looked into by her basement floor of her building, making a shared space that offers an escape from the city within the city. In foil to the Farnsworth house which is an escape from the city outside of the city.
The courtyard truly acts as an escape from the city as it offers you the ability to participate in many activities you otherwise would not be able to do within the city
From the street, the escape house seems like no more than a small brick structure. You may be able to look over the roof, but if your are a passerby the space inside is left to your imagination.