Previous Next

The architecture of Bart Prince invites rhetorical excess. Instantly recognized yet unfamiliar, its sculpturally suggestive, structurally theatrical forms resist description through ordinary words. Buildings are likened to sharks and spaceships in the hope that frenzied metaphors might express our wonder that something as mundane as a house could ever look so exotic.

Rising diagonally above its neighbors on a suburban lot, the Mead-Penhall Residence is sheltered behind a northwest facade turned protectively to the street. Concrete block, 2x6 timber framing, plywood sheathing, stucco finish, and corrugated sheet metal make the most of a tight budget. The main spaces pool upstairs in a single volume, extending 100 feet and shaped in plan and elevation by a gentle arc that modulates the interior into different living areas. With walls of rough-sawn cedar plywood and a ceiling measured by plywood truss joists, this navelike room radiates outward to the horizon.

Prince's Price Residence, in Orange County, Calif., was featured in the pages of Architectural Record as a Record house for 1991. Prince later returned to design an addition to the house, which is featured exclusively on Architecturalrecord.com.