Brenthaven

Project Details

Project Description

2001 RADA
Single-family Production / Detached

This production house is located in a golf-course community where McMansions regularly compete for massiveness, says architect J. Carson Looney. But they often sit for a year before they're bought, whereas this one sold before it was finished. Looney says that's because his firm concentrated on quality over quantity. At 5,117 square feet, it's the not-so-big house in its neighborhood.

The program called for a large house that did not appear overbearing from the street, with a layout that captured natural light throughout the interior. "We scaled the house down and let it read as various forms," says Looney, which "allowed us to manipulate the floor plan to create distinct spaces that had opportunity for multiple exposures of natural light." The living room, for instance, is open to the front and rear, so light comes in from both ends. Views continue outside via a covered porch and an outdoor room.

"This is a nice production house," said the judges. "It's better than the average production house and better than some custom homes."