Project Description
2005 CHDA
Custom Home More Than 5,000 Square Feet / Merit Award
The watery world that surrounds Annapolis, Md., has a tradition of rustic vacation-cottage architecture. This weekend home, far from rustic in craftsmanship and amenities, recalls the romantic simplicity of that tradition. “It sort of morphed out of the idea of the turn-of-the-century camps,” says architect Wayne Good, who used historical references to provide local context, an informal atmosphere, and human scale. Rather than enclose the building’s substantial volume within a single building mass, Good assembled a plan of eight connected pavilions. Distinguished by variations in siding and roofing materials, these cottage-scale forms are joined by a rhythmic progression of glass-walled connecting links and bridged by long stretches of metal-roofed porch and walkway.
A building of so many parts might easily have lost coherence, but Good’s disciplined use of materials keeps things under control. The exterior achieves its eclectic but unified look with an abbreviated palette of materials and colors applied in various combinations. On the inside, Good says, “It’s fir, ipé, and oak, basically,” plus the stone and siding that wraps from the outside. Our judges approved of the results, calling the house “a comfortable rural contemporary” with “an incredibly strong plan.”