FALLEN
LEAVES

CUSTOM RESIDENTIAL
ARCHITECTURE / AT MTA

MARTHA’S VINEYARD, MA

CUSTOM RESIDENTIAL
ARCHITECTURE / AT MTA

A two story small longish house with layered angled walls and angled roofs, clad in new horizontal cedar siding, sits in a grassy field against a big blue sky with clouds.

Conceived as a series of floating horizontal planes – inspired by leaves falling slowly through the breeze – the organic geometry of this summer residence gently filters in southern light while it opens to views of the ocean to the north.

The layered and projecting roof and floor planes proved challenging both from the structural and construction/ architectural detail perspectives, from zoning, and from the modest budget.

After much back and forth, the modern project won (conservative) Martha’s Vineyard planning approval by maintaining a minimum 4:12 roof slope and keeping the exterior wrapped in clear cedar siding.

Lateral movement was minimized by using the chimney as the supporting mass (moment core) and keeping most of the southern side solid.

A lot of thought also went into maintaining a very thin and elegant exterior structural silhouette (columns, deck) and ensuring the complex roof collage would remain watertight.

As if it is almost alive, the form of the house unravels gently on approach, and more rambunctiously on its private side.

Similarly conceived, the more public spaces are on the upper floor, where they can extend to the outdoor deck, and to views of the Atlantic Ocean above the vegetation.

My role on this project was to develop the design as part of a two-person team. I was mainly in charge of structural and detailed design development – chimney, roofs, windows, lighting, finishes – as well as coordinating/checking and developing the construction drawing set.

ARCHITECT

Maryann Thompson Architects (Maryann Thompson, Project Principal)

IOANA URMA’s ROLE

Associate & Designer, DD through beginning of CA: mainly in charge of structural and detailed design development of chimney, roofs, windows, lighting, finishes, as well as creating and checking the CD set

SITE

Aquinnah, Martha’s Vineyard, MA

MATERIALS + DIMENSIONS

  • · 3,500 sf on 2 levels
  • · 3 bedrooms + 3 baths
  • · All cedar exterior: siding, shingles, window frames, deck

MEDIA

  • · Fallen Leaves,” Louis Postel, Boston Magazine Home and Garden, Fall 2006
  • · From Fallen Leaves,” Andrew Cunningham, Cape Cod and Islands Home, 1/2006

IMAGE CREDITS

Photographs: Chuck Choi. Drawings & Model: Ioana Urma.

Wood exterior to white interior view along glass door line, with exposed wood rafters shown to continue from inside to outside, and many angled roof planes. The enclosed wood screen porch is seen beyond on the left and the modern kitchen is seen beyond the living room table on the right.
Explosive looking back side of vacation house, with roofs angled up in many directions, and clad in new horizontal cedar siding. A wood deck supported by very thin, round metal columns, and with a horizontal stainless steel cable railing and stairs coming down to the grass, floats above the lower floor the length of the house.
Three hand-drafted pencil elevation renderings set against a black background show the complexity of the angled roofs.
Horizontal cedar slat angled walls surround an outdoor shower at the end of the house. Wood model of house shows layered angled roofs, and organic way the deck and exterior walls extend into the landscape beyond the body of the house. Hand-drafted and shaded plan of house shows how bedroom and living spaces pivot in angled directions about the central chimney. Tall, cedar wood framed outdoor screened porch looks out onto cedar deck with stainless steel cable railing and green vegetation in the foreground, with the ocean farther away in the background.
Interior to exterior view of a modern bathroom finished in an ivory-beige stone, and and outdoor shower area clad in new cedar siding.
Close up view of outdoor shower area, defined by walls sloping down surrounding it, everything clad in new cedar siding.
Back of house view zoomed in on screened porch with angled roof pointing up and wood deck and stairs coming down from the second floor.
Modern bathroom interior with a greenish rusty stone tile around the walls and floor, and a long slim horizontal window above the shower/tub.
Living room interior with white furniture, a white concrete chimney, and exposed wood rafters in part of the angled ceiling/roof plane. Slivers of light are coming in through the long rows of clerestory windows, on two roof plane levels.
In the front, the angled cedar roofs and angled cedar exterior walls project past the massing of the house.
Hand-drafted and shaded plan of house shows how bedroom and living spaces pivot in angled directions about the central chimney.
Living and dining room interior with white furniture and a white concrete chimney opens to views to views of ocean beyond through a wall of large glass patio doors.
Enclosed back porch framed in cedar has a cedar roof that tilts up toward the backyard. It sits on a deck above the first floor that is supported by thin, round metal columns which angle slightly in various directions.
The master bedroom suite part of the house looks deconstructed, with angled projecting roof planes and decks both on top and around it.

next project

Aerial view of North End Parks, set between two large roads and Boston’s red-brick clad North End, with two highways coming out from under them and headed underground again. From south-west to north east, the parks geometry shows bands/zones of: trees, bushes and plants, green lawns, walk-in fountains, dark brown steel pergolas covering a very wide walkway, and plants again.

URBAN
PORCH

BOSTON (BIG DIG), MA
(AT CSS, FOR GGN)