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The Transparent House
Pensacola, Fla.
Krueck & Sexton Architects
Lyrical Wave-like Form Reflects Water
and Sky
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For more photos click on 'photos
& drawings' above.
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This 16,000-square-foot house,
designed for a couple with four children, is located on the
Gulf coast of the Florida Panhandle. Sited on a barrier island
facing Santa Rosa Sound, the 600-ft long by 150-ft wide site
is covered with white sand that possesses the consistency
and color of sugar. The client desired a house as transparent
as possible, with minimal visual disruption and clutter, which
would take maximum advantage of its spectacular setting and
the changing conditions of water and sky.
Envisioned
as a clean, quiet machine, the house is nestled among existing
coastal vegetation with minimal impact on the site. Its thin,
wave-like form responds to pressures exerted by the curving
edges of the shoreline and sand dunes along the rear of the
site. This lyrical bending of the volume allows the house
to gather vistas from multiple viewpoints, reinforcing the
dialogue between house and nature.
The first level
of the house is a cantilevered concrete and stainless structure
that is elevated twelve feet on sculpted piers. This strategy
visually lightens the mass, while providing expansive views
of the sound and protection from hurricane wave surges. A
steel structure springs from the concrete table of the first
level and supports five bedrooms on the second level and a
roof deck above.
An undulating
two-story north-facing wall is connected to curved steel trusses
that support the wall and second floor. Three-by-nine-foot
insulated glass panels are supported by six stainless steel
pins at the glass joints. Metal-paneled rain screen wall and
aluminum louvers on the south side of the house control solar
heat gain and brightness.
Formal name
of building:
The Transparent House
Location:
Pensacola, Florida
Architect's
firm:
Krueck & Sexton Architects
221 West Erie
Chicago Ill 60610
312.787.0056 tel
312.787.8415 fax
www.ksarch.com
Design Team:
Ronald Krueck, FAIA Design
Principal
Mark Sexton, AIA Project Principal
Tim Tracey Project Architect
Brian Frey
Thomas Jacobs
Peter Johonnknecht
Matthew Johnson
Paras Kiravanich
Jochen Zeigler
Consultant
Team:
Structural: Tylk
Gustafson, Chicago Illinois.
MEP: Lehman Design Consultants, Chicago Illinois.
Lighting: Schuler & Shook, Chicago Illinois.
Acoustical: Kirkegaard & Associates, Chicago
Illinois.
Curtain Wall: ASI Design, Marina Del Rey, California.
Geo-Technical: Larry Jacobs & Associates, Pensacola,
Florida.
Contractor:
Terhaar & Cronley, Pensacola, Florida.
Model Photographer:
Mariusz Mizera, Chicago
Illinois.
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