Tag: Apertures

The Art of Thresholds

I’m slightly obsessed with transitions and betweenness. Liminality and interstices. Metamorphosis, reawakening, and transformation inevitably weave themselves into my words about gardening and historic rehabilitation. In fact, in a not altogether exaggerated sense, Rosslyn Redux is a kind of carefree contemplation of thresholds, the art of thresholds, and the artifacts of crossing thresholds…

Transitions. Flux. Liminality. Interstices. Inflection. Evolving.

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From carpentry fiasco (boathouse gangway) to carpentry triumph (house deck), from summer to autumn (bittersweet seasonality), from hale and hardy to COVID crash dummy, from perennially postponed icehouse rehab to 100% timely reboot, from Adirondacks to southwest,… We are awash in transitions! (Source: Transitions)

Supi and Peter Fabricate a Charactered Threshold (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

One of the most notable changes in the icehouse rehab is a considerable increase in apertures, transparency, and porosity. With an eye to more seamlessly integrating the interior and exterior experience while reducing the potentially confining ambience of such a small (approximately 18’ x 30’) structure, we have introduced lots of glass.

Windows and doors blur boundaries between the enclosed environment and the exterior views, landscape, hardscape, decks and courtyard. Within the interior we’ve also endeavored to maximize transparency and porosity by embracing an open plan.

Only the bathroom is fully enclosed. Other zones (entrance, coffee bar, main room, and loft study/studio/office) flow into one another permitting the small volume to feel more ample. Design continuity and viewshed integration enhance this sense of openness, favoring cohesion and harmony over spatial subdivision by function. And yet, subtle transitions (i.e. a doorway threshold, the staircase and banister to loft.) are present and necessary.

In these instances delineation and boundaries serve us. Sometimes the utility is practical. For example, the loft is enclosed with a banister that extends from the top of the staircase to the north and south knee walls. Although code compliance is the most obvious reason for this, the underpinning logic is that a railing enclosing the second-story loft ensures that we do not accidentally pitch off the edge. The porosity of railing and balusters affords transparency, but the sturdy boundary ensures safety, as much a visual cue (caution, stay back, etc.) as a functional restraint.

Flooring transitions and how they help differentiate space and use warrant careful consideration. This is true in the icehouse where the top stair riser meets the loft floor, representing a meeting of dissimilar materials (painted poplar staircase and sealed beech flooring) and a blurring of function (stair tread and flooring). It is also true in the elm and garapa threshold that I conceived and Peter created for the icehouse bathroom doorway.

The highly charactered elm — grown, harvested, aged, milled, and finished on Rosslyn’s property — will integrate with the ash and elm flooring in the main floor of the icehouse. (Source: Elm and Garapa Threshold)

Today’s update considers the passage from the east entrance and coffee bar area into the main room of the icehouse. In addition to a shift in function and feel, the 8’ flat ceiling in the entrance and coffee bar area opens up to a 2-story cathedral ceiling in the main room. Accentuating this transition with a pair of columns that flank the passageway adds a touch of drama and playfulness given the incongruity of the diminutive space and the dominant pillars.

The elm and ash flooring will run east-west, so a threshold of sorts, seamlessly conjoining while differentiating the two zones presented an opportunity. Thresholds — door treads, doorsills, etc. — signal the ending of one space and the beginning of another space. But they often function as weather barrier and/or doorstop as well, resulting in a profile raised above the floor plane. I did not desire this threshold to deviate from the floor. Subtler than a doorway threshold, I nevertheless wanted to offer a visual cue that a transition is being made between two zones, a perhaps subconscious delineation of usage.

I explained my vision, first to Hroth and subsequently to Peter, for a threshold running perpendicular to the flooring and wide enough to frame the column plinths equally around the outer perimeter. Fabricated out of the same ash or elm that we are using for the floor, I proposed a pair of book matched planks that would cause pause and invite interest. I asked them to think of this over-wide threshold, not as a throwaway intended simply to bridge otherwise similar areas of flooring, but instead as an integrated piece of art. A contiguous embellishment within the broader “tapestry” of the floor. Character-rich grain and coloration. Precise joinery, perhaps an inlaid bowtie if necessary and aesthetically pleasing. An interstitial experience/object as bold and intriguing as the columns that rest upon it.

Peter Conjoins Charactered Boards for Threshold (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

As you can see, Peter has begun to transform the vision into reality. A mesmerizing tableau to be tread upon. The art of thresholds.

April 23, 2023
Icehouse Rehab 10: East Elevation Gable Window

Rendering for Icehouse Rehabilitation: East Elevation Gable Window (Source: Tiho Dimitrov)

I mentioned recently that framing for the expansive gable window in the west elevation of Rosslyn’s icehouse was completed, and the change was monumental. Now we’re on hold, anticipating the big reveal in a few months when the new windows arrive and the sheathing can be trimmed. For now that facade is concealed behind a plane of green ZIP paneling, effectively shrouding the dramatic transformation until springtime. Anticipation, I tell my dog, is have the pleasure…

Today, however, I’m able to update you on Hroth‘s gable window framing for the *east elevation*. Hurrah! As you can see in Tiho‘s rendering above, the openings on the lake-facing facade will remain virtually unchanged except for a shift from opaque (solid wood openings) to transparent (glass window and door). But the the east elevation gable window will be integrated into a whimsical Essex sunburst motif that echoes the same detail on the third story, west elevation gable end of the main house. I will focus on this detail separately once we’ve made a little more progress.

Icehouse Interior, Hroth framing East elevation gable window (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

In short, we’ve endeavored to maintain the public view shed much as it has appeared in recent decades albeit with a reimagined sunburst embellishment that weaves the icehouse together with the main house, the gates, and multiple additional sunburst motifs throughout Essex and the Champlain Valley.

Envisioning the icehouse rehab from within, the photo below helps orient the new window as it will be experienced from the loft (still not framed) and, to a lesser degree, the main room. Morning light will illuminate the interior, offering a restrained prelude to the magnificent afternoon lighting that will bath the icehouse as the sun sets into the Adirondack foothills.

Icehouse Interior, East elevation gable window (Photo: Hroth Ottosen)

The closeup below captures Hroth at the end of a long day of carriage barn carpentry looking a more than a little bit ready for some heat and a more comfortable perch. But it also captures the just completed window framing below the header, perfectly echoing the slope of the icehouse roof.

Icehouse Interior, Hroth framing East elevation gable window (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

Another closeup, gets a little closer to imagining the perspective when standing on the future loft floor.

Icehouse Interior, East elevation gable window (Photo: Hroth Ottosen)

Framing East Gable Window

Shortly this aperture will be concealed behind insulated paneling much like the west elevation, but for a fleeting moment longer we can appreciate the natural light entering through the east elevation gable window framing, and we can try to imagine the daybreak view of Lake Champlain, warm sunlight illuminating the north elevation of the main house as it rises up into the summer sky.

A new perspective is emerging as Hroth frames my future office window (from the icehouse loft). Looking east (actually southeast in this photo), this will be my morning view. Panning to the left 10 to 15° the view will be filtered through the enormous American Linden (basswood) tree and across the upper lawn, through the ancient ginkgo tree and across the front lawn to Lake Champlain. (Source: Loft Office View)

Holes in walls. Such rudimentary changes to a building envelope. And yet such profound transformation!

By strategically introducing apertures and maximizing transparency in this small structure we’re endeavoring to dilate the living experience beyond the finite building envelope, to challenge the confines of walls and roof, and when possible and esthetically judicious, to improve porosity with abundant new fenestration, dynamic interior-exterior interplay, subtle but impactful landscaping changes (including a new deck) that will work in concert to amplify the breathability of the interior and temptingly invite insiders outside. (Source: Gable End Window in West Elevation)

The photo below hints at the future porosity of the this space. Imagine the window near bottom right once it is glass.

Icehouse Interior, East elevation gable window (Photo: Hroth Ottosen)

Of course, framing in the balcony and eventually adding blisters will shift add interesting layers, shadows, textures, and other nuances to the transparency looking east from within. Perhaps an interior rendering or two will help imagine forward…

December 19, 2022
Icehouse Rehab 7: Window Apertures

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: Matt and Justin framing double hung windows. (Photo: Hroth Ottosen)

It sure is fun to see the three double hung windows emerging on the north elevation of the icehouse. And the three fixies above. And the three fixies on the south elevation. And the freshened up window aperture in the southeast corner, opposite the new bathroom in the small anteroom (once framing, well, and everything else, is complete.)

I’m talking about window apertures. And the transparency that all of the new windows (and doors) will bring to Rosslyn’s icehouse. The transformation will be dramatic!

Icehouse Window Apertures: Matt fine-tuning framing for “fixies” (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

With the north elevation becoming so porous, the team added plastic weatherproofing to ensure that an early December storm doesn’t punish us. In the photo below, you can see the in-between stage that probably should have appeared before the first and second photos above, the progression from opening up the sheathing for the three double hung windows and the three small fixies above.

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: covering up new apertures (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

This time of year we’re working on borrowed time, racing winter, keeping our fingers crossed that temperatures and moisture will remain within a favorable range. But, we’re also realistic. And practical. Better safe than sorry!

Icehouse Apertures: Matt fine-tuning framing for “fixies” (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

Keeping with my out-of-sequence chronology, I’ll double back again. This time to Matt putting some of the finishing touches on those upper windows. When everything is said and done, these three small window apertures will echo those in the carriage barn stables visible from the west and northwest, adding a handsome cohesion between the two buildings. And they will augment the transparency that is fundamental to this repurposing project. Just as the west wall is transforming from a solid first story and a small service opening on the second story (ostensibly to help pack in the ice?), to a window-filled, view-filled gable end, we’ve integrated a constellation of windows in the northwest section of the north elevation, dramatically shifting the transparency of the interior.

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: Matt and Justin opening up the new double hung windows (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

Again out of sequence, the photo above and the next one below offer some insight into the process. The team first framed in the window bucks from within the icehouse. Once everything was secure, they cut through the two layers of existing sheathing and the “air gap” which is filled with shredded newsprint insulation (all original to the icehouse) to open the apertures.

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: Justin tuning up double hung window framing (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

To the right of Justin (in the photo above) you can see the third double hung window and the three small windows (“fixies”) above framed and ready to have the sheathing cut out.

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: Matt manning the mitre saw (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

All six window frames have been cut out in this photo. Jarret, cutting framing material with the mitre saw, is bathed in natural light even though all six apertures are covered in semi-opaque plastic. Try, if your imagination is feeling nimble, to imagine those apertures a few months from now. The large, lower openings will receive six-over-six double hung windows that can be opened to allow a nice breeze to enter on the north side of the building. And the three small windows above are the non-operable square “fixies” that echo the stable windows in the carriage barn.

Although the drama today — at least in terms of apertures and fenestration — is found on the north elevation of the icehouse, there’s also some headway being made on the south elevation.

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: Matt and Jarret fine-tuning new “fixie” (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

The new fenestration in the western portion (open area of icehouse with vaulted ceiling) repeats the high (clerestory) windows windows from the north façade, albeit with slightly different spacing. This southern exposure will introduce plenty of natural light to the principal space in the icehouse while editing the view of the carriage barn. Although these new apertures will not result in the same elevation transformation as the north side, they will significantly augment the natural light and the transparency.

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: Matt cutting out sheafing from new window (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

Although windows will not be installed until spring, we have the ability in the short term (before exterior paneling is installed) to preview the inside-outside blurring — or would that be, outside-inside blurring?!?! — that we’re hoping to accomplish by introducing so many apertures into this small building.

And one more window is now ready for temporary paneling and spring installation of new casement. In the southeast corner of the building, directly to the left upon entering from the east, an existing window has been reframed and replaced with a matching but high efficiency Marvin window (that will be installed in duplicate on the north elevation, one in the same location as previously but now located in a bathroom, and another in the new mechanical room).

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: shoring up window framing for existing aperture (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

For those of you familiar with the building as it stood prior to this remodel, that aperture is unchanged.

Icehouse Apertures and Transparency: Matt and Zack framing new window (Photo: R.P. Murphy)

Although the location (and window design) remains the same, Matt and Zack are fortifying the window buck to ensure exact location and structural integrity.

In my last icehouse rehab update I caught you up on the internal window framing. Now we’ve taken the full leap!

There are still two windows in the north elevation the need to be framed and open, and then there are all of the hight level windows in the two gable ends of the icehouse. This latter project will take place after first phase of insulation and subfloor installation (both scheduled for next week) so that staging can be set up to work so high up. Updates will be forthcoming…

In closing, a heap of gratitude to Pam, Hroth, Tony, Eric, Matt, Zack, Justin, and Jarret. Have a great weekend!

December 2, 2022
Icehouse Rehab 9: Gable End Window in West Elevation

Rendering for Icehouse Rehabilitation, West Elevation with Gable End Window (Source: Tiho Dimitrov)

Bar none, the west elevation of Rosslyn’s icehouse is undergoing the most consequential transformation of all four facades. From clapboard, clapboard, clapboard (except for the second story access door) and minimalist-but-classic barn vernacular architecture, to a veritable wall of glass at ground level and a picturesque gable end window above, the metamorphosis is a sweeping reimagination of an environment often disregarded (perhaps simply overlooked) en route to the vegetable gardens, orchard, back meadows, etc.

To be 100% unequivocal, this understated facade was incredibly pleasing to the eye long before the icehouse rehab was launched.

Icehouse, West Elevation (Photo: Geo Davis)

Even in the dead of winter, when Rosslyn’s lawns and gardens swaddled in snow, this facade is captivating.

Icehouse, West Elevation (Photo: Geo Davis)

And when viewed as a 2-part barn duo with the carriage barn — after all, the impression from most vantage points on Rosslyn’s front property is of both barns’ collective architectural massing — the relationship of scale and perfect classical proportions makes is mesmerizing.

Icehouse and Carriage Barn, from Northwest (Photo: Geo Davis)

I don’t pretend that we’re making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but I’m at once optimistic and increasingly confident that our vision, nurtured into a plan by Tiho Dimitrov (architect) with structural oversight of Thomas Weber (engineer), will by late springtime have added a worthy new dimension to this timeless sanctuary.

Framing West Gable End Window

This afternoon’s icehouse rehab update needs few words to convey the impact of Hroth’s progress, framing in the gable end window that will open up breathtaking sunset views from within and will reflect those same spellbinding riots of color onto the large expanses of glass.

Icehouse Gable End Window, West Elevation, Exterior View (Photo: Hroth Ottosen)

By strategically introducing apertures and maximizing transparency in this small structure we’re endeavoring to dilate the living experience beyond the finite building envelope, to challenge the confines of walls and roof, and when possible and esthetically judicious, to improve porosity with abundant new fenestration, dynamic interior-exterior interplay, subtle but impactful landscaping changes (including a new deck) that will work in concert to amplify the breathability of the interior and temptingly invite insiders outside.

Icehouse Gable End Window, West Elevation, Interior View (Photo: Hroth Ottosen)

If you missed the previous west elevation progress report which captured the lower section when it was opened (closed with weatherproofing in the photo above), then it may be a little difficult to imagine the impact of this interior view when BOTH the 1st story glass AND the gable end window are installed. For now you can allow your mind to synthesize the photographs, but within months we’ll be able to show you the new views from the icehouse out to the orchard and beyond.

December 9, 2022