Fombell Addition
Set within the Western Pennsylvania countryside, a pair of modern additions firmly roots itself within the surrounding context while respecting the existing and providing connection to family, regional history, and landscape.
Located in a rolling meadow, a Dutch Colonial house was strategically remodeled and enlarged to provide better living spaces for a growing multi-generational family. Blending old and new, the new additions take the form of wings on either side of the existing house. New glass-walled entertaining spaces near the kitchen and dining room allow for comfortable gatherings while emphasizing nature’s proximity. The master suite seeks to elevate daily living to a joyful experience with massive window walls offering panoramic views of the landscape, especially dynamic in the changing seasons while allowing for age-in-place living at ground level.
Desiring a cohesive and private street-facing façade, the south elevations of the new pavilions continue the materiality and style of the existing house while the new north-facing rear elevations showcase large expenses of thin sightline steel window walls, reorienting the views, pulling the exterior landscape into the house, and allowing for views to the surrounding meadow, bank barn, and apple orchard. In matching roof pitches, materials, and timber framing, the additions pay homage to the local vernacular while modern interventions such as floor to ceiling glass, exposed structural steel, and simple clean detailing provide a clean modern aesthetic.
Of key importance was the use of reclaimed timber. Salvaged white oak beams from a local 1800s cabin provide the main structural framing for the additions in a way that recalls traditional vernacular barn framing. Old iron straps, pulleys, and joinery traces are left intact and celebrated. The house capitalizes on the antique timber’s natural bows and bends, juxtaposing them with exposed white steel structural members and connections.
Project Data
Location
Western Pennsylvania
Size
2,400 SF
Status
Completed 2016
Scope
Conceptual Design, Architectural Design Services, Interior Design, Permit Drawings, Construction Documents, Construction Administration
Project Team
Collaborating Architect: Mary Barensfeld Architecture
Structural Engineer: Schneider Engineering
MEP Engineer: Apogee Engineering
Lighting: studio I Lighting
Audio Visual: Xycom Technology Group
Contractor: Palumbo Contracting / D’Angelo Construction
Glass Sculpture Artist: John Sharvin
Timber Framing: Lancaster County Timber Frames
Photography: Joe Fletcher Photography / Ed Massery Photography
Existing Conditions
Timber Framing Sketches
Early Concept Sketches showing the chosen design through 3 rounds of iteration
(Concept design consisted of 3 rounds of design, each w/ 2-4 variations)
Design Process
Creating a solution that blended seamlessly with the existing Dutch Colonial house and yet allowed for modern interventions was central to the design intent. Our clients appreciated modern design, and also wished to maintain a unified front facing the street.
Together with Mary Barensfeld Architecture, we went through a comprehensive conceptual design process in which various designs were explored that both mimicked yet deviated from the traditional vernacular. With the clients, we ultimately chose a design that incorporated the traditional barn typology of the surrounding landscape in a series of smaller volumes of programmed space that each opened up separately to views of the meadow beyond with large glazed walls.
The roof design proved to be one of the more challenging aspects of the project as each new roof needed to intersect, relate, yet stand out from the existing adjacent structure. In addition, the desire to showcase and expose the timber framing structure led to many exploratory studies on how to maximize the use of the available timber stockpile, while also creating a thin roof profile. Through these roof assembly studies and a cost analysis, we chose to use SIP panels at the roof to help achieve the insulation requirements, structural stability, and thin profile we desired. The initial concept went through several other iterations before finally settling on the final design that was constructed.
To provide for age-in-place living, the existing master bedroom that was previously on the second floor moved to the ground level making it easily accessible from all living areas of the house and allowed for the new elevator to ascend only one story. The master suite relocation also led to the design decision to split the new spaces into two additions on either side of the original house, separating the public and private functions: master suite to the east and dining pavilion to the northwest.
Sustainability
The driving design philosophy is that a well-functioning building is that a well-functioning home that not only delights the eye and mind but is also well-built, with durable construction materials, is both beautiful and enduring but is also a responsible and sustainable solution.
The project is about placemaking: creating a timeless design that establishes the home as an enduring family hub for a multi-generational family. Respect is paid to the layering of architectural history and the natural site (avoidance of site obliteration and focus on views and existing site features).
Re-using antique 200-year-old timbers saves valuable local history from the trash bin. It is immediately evident to visitors to the house that saving old building materials is not only a viable and sustainable design option but can provide beauty. In this project, it is a source of pride for the clients that their house was able to utilize old building materials for their original purpose: as strong structural members.
For thermal performance, a high-performance enclosure is achieved by a combination of energy-efficient windows, well-insulated products and materials, and construction methods. Windows use Low-E double paneled insulated glazing and thermally broken frames by a local window manufacturing firm, Hope’s Windows of Jamestown, NY. Structural insulated panels (SIPs) solved a design need for a thin profile roof while minimizing infiltration (compared to traditional stick framing plus insulation assemblies).
Natural light floods the new additions through floor to ceiling glazing. Mostly north facing, these window wall areas provide a uniform distribution of ambient light and help to minimize glare and high contrast areas. Artificial lighting is used in conjunction with natural daylighting: the project uses 100% LED fixtures on dimmers to allow for manual control of light levels, meeting user needs when natural light levels are not adequate. In the new dining room pavilion, the massive bi-fold door system can be opened in moderate temperatures, in conjunction with opening the rear dormer windows for natural ventilation. Air conditioner use is reduced and a greater connection to the outdoors is emphasized. The native meadow alongside the house sports a mixture of pasture grasses, wildflowers, and milkweed, an important host plant for monarch butterflies on their migration path. White clover takes priority over lawn grasses in this rear yard as well, providing a native, low-maintenance alternative to less drought tolerant, finicky, turf grasses.
Heating in the new additions is provided by a combination of radiant heating and EPA-certified wood-burning stoves. These heating sources are consistent with the heat sources of the existing house, which uses radiators and wood stoves. Fuel for the wood stoves is conveniently provided by firewood culled from downed trees on the property which would otherwise be hauled off-site. In-floor radiant systems provide additional heat in the new additions, a technology generally more efficient than ducted forced air systems.
Sustainable design is not simply creating a laundry-list of green materials; rather; it’s creating an enduring and timeless project that’s long-lasting, conserves resources, and is efficient in use. Design emphasis on thoughtful detailing, re-use of vernacular antique building materials and usage of modern, energy efficient products further seeks to respectfully root the family to its home and land. Architecture and landscape act as history and environmental teacher.