Checkerboard House

Sited dramatically on a bluff, this modern synthesis of Shingle Style and Arts and Crafts architecture gains interest from the way it bends and meanders to follow the contours of the land. The angled wings dynamically shift and overlap.

This small house with a large presence draws from sources far and near: ancient Greek Doric temples, Palladio’s ‘Redentore’ and Villa Barbaro, Peter Harrison’s Redwood Library, Jefferson’s Monticello, Asher Benjamin’s carpenter pattern books, and local Greek Revival building traditions of Concord.

This house wraps around two levels of courtyards on one side and looks out over salt marshes to the sound on the other. Its deeply insulated 12” thick walls and roof conserve energy, and heat recovery ventilation ensures a constant cycle of fresh air.

Atrium House
view PDF