Nashville, Tennesse, USA
The Sycamore House by Hastings Architecture, intended for a family of four and located on an urban neighborhood lot, represents a thoughtful exploration of visibility, connectivity, and seclusion.
The Sycamore House has been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The Sycamore House features straightforward geometric shapes arranged along an east/west axis, forming a central courtyard.
This courtyard links the house’s public and private sections with a practical outdoor area that serves as an extension of the interior spaces for the family.
The restrained, modern material palette is a response to the layered limestone bluffs and fissures that are found throughout the region, establishing an architecture with an honest connection to its site and rooted in its place.
Three Interlocking volumes cater to the programmatic necessities of the house and seamlessly navigate the grade of the site while taking advantage of the solar orientation.
Made predominantly of glass, the home’s central volume wraps the main living and entry areas and opens to both the front of the house and the courtyard created within, further enforcing the connection between nature and architecture.
Anchoring this volume is an elongated porch that provides an elevated vantage point over the public realm.
The two remaining geometries divide private retreat spaces from public gathering spaces that flank the central elongated porch – each creating a layered and effortless connection to nature and utilizing filtered natural light.
With an eye toward longevity for the client’s family, the home is informed by energy conservation and sustainability and seeks to be Net Zero through a holistic approach.
The design employs the AIA COTE Top Ten Measures to further enforce the connection between architecture and site, as well as create a home with highly reduced energy consumption and environmental impact.
The orientation manages solar heat gain, and a long-span pergola at the front porch shades the glazing of the west facade. Low-e glazing, a highly insulated envelope utilizing foam insulation, 6’ exterior studs, white TPO roof material, shading devices, motorized shades, and 100% LED lighting further work in unison to enhance the home’s performance.
A 7kW solar photovoltaic array (with expansion capabilities) resides on the roof and helps power the geothermal HVAC system which utilizes nine 300’ deep wells in the NW corner of the site.
Rainwater is harvested from 100% of all roof areas and is captured in a below-grade cistern, along with groundwater, cistern for non-potable irrigation.
The result is a home that blurs the line between inside and outdoors while meeting the client’s needs sustainably and responsibly, establishing a modern architectural language that effortlessly coexists within the more traditional neighborhood context.
Project: Sycamore House
Architects: HASTINGS Architecture, LLC.
General Contractor: Bruce Zeitlin Construction, Inc.
Client: Private
Photographers: Hall + Merrick + McCaugherty
