A few years prior, the firm had redesigned the first and second level of a typical Baltimore row home for a prominent cinematographer who was relocating his young and growing family from Brooklyn; the basement level and backyard remained undesigned and unfinished. Now, seeking a place for retreat, contemplation, and focused work, the client was seeking to completed his home.
The space was long and narrow with the western façade the only opportunity to bring daylight into the space from a sunken courtyard. The house’s mechanical systems lined the southern wall along with an existing powder room, exposed ducts ran between the original hardwood joists, and a steel stair from above wrapped down into the space.
Simple interventions of built-in casework encapsulates existing systems and divides the basement into distinct spaces for rest, lounge & gatherings, and entertaining &working. The western non-load bearing wall is blown out and replaced with a wall to wall and floor to ceiling glass door which opens to the sunken courtyard and rear garden beyond, connecting the interior and exterior spaces. This opening and the casework work in concert to create an aperture-like effect when looking out from the space.
The garden is ringed in corten and black stained wood. The top of the wall strikes a datum with an existing deck overhang to create Juddian top lit space when viewed from inside. Interior materials include shou sugi wood, raw waxed walnut, raw refinished wood joists, and a concrete floor. Together they seek to create an dark, contemplative, and unfinished atmosphere.
Most elements in the space are custom designed and were fabricated in collaboration with local crafts people including the furniture, steel door hardware, copper bar, and cast concrete sink. These elements, in addition to the wonkiness of an existing space, demanded heavy coordination and unique details with sub-contractors in the field in order to ensure that the entire space was unified.
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