Craig Jensen has designed a house that appears, in drawings
at least, to float. The long, low house is elevated, supported on one end by
the ground-floor garage and the other end by a thick concrete pillar. The
center of the house hovers above the driveway and the end of the house hangs
above the ground. Floor-to-ceiling windows on a large portion of the house make
it look like a suspended, steel picture frame for what will be the surrounding
wooded landscape.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “In very
many ways, it’s very pragmatic,” Jensen says. “You look at the floor plan of
this thing and it’s just one giant rectangle; it’s not doing all sorts of
strange things.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Jensen is a
partner with Macon, Chaintreuil, Jensen & Stark, a Rochester firm that
outside of its industrial work designs only three to four houses a year, many
of those in more traditional styles. For this house, which will be constructed
this summer for a family with land on Thayer Road in Perinton, Jensen was asked
for something different.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “The client
came to us and they were very clear they wanted a modern house,” he says. “I
know [the design] could seem arbitrary to some, but at the same time there’s a
certain governing logic that makes it the way it is.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The logic
that governs is the clients’ wish to capitalize on the site’s view — a
distant view of the city that can only be caught at the very crest of the
site’s hill or at an elevation. The long driveway will lead to a ground-floor
garage and entry room beneath the house; access to the “main” house or the
small, separated “guest” house (where the house’s second bedroom is), will be
by two separate sets of stairs from that entry room.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The main
house has an open floor plan. The only rooms divided off are the bedroom and a
small cluster of rooms — the bathroom, closet, and laundry room — housed in
a free-floating box of walls in the larger, open space. Living, dining, and
kitchen spaces are fluid.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Movable
wood storage walls — which won’t reach the ceiling — have been designed for
flexible definitions of space, and rooms, if any. Jensen equates the storage
walls, the core of service rooms, and even the low appliances and fixtures in
the kitchen with furniture: They won’t interfere with the coveted view, nor the
open, “pavilion” feel of the house itself.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Jensen and
his clients chose materials to reflect the house’s style and functions. The
house will have a steel frame (largely to support the windows), polished
concrete floors inside, a butterfly roof, and the exterior will be covered with
sheets of cortan steel, a rusted steel often used in abstract sculpture, Jensen
says. A concrete deck in front of the house, cantilevered by a concrete stem,
will be reached from the house by a narrow, suspended walkway.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
cantilevering of the house and the deck are not necessary, but part of a modern
design sensibility. “Oftentimes modernists would like to exploit those kinds of
things that materials could do,” Jensen says. “Let’s let these materials
express themselves and do things that are a little more representative of their
potential.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย He is
hopeful that more people in the Rochester area will begin to embrace modern
architecture, as a couple of his firm’s clients now have. It’s part of a small,
but what Jensen hopes is a growing, “consciousness” of Rochester’s history of
modern design. Buildings like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Boynton house, designs by
architects like Jim Johnson, and buildings like Brighton’s Temple Sinai are all
milestones in the city’s modernist heritage.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย After
architectural modernism reached and passed its peak, many of these Rochester
buildings were left to fall into disrepair, Jensen says. Though he thinks
people locally are beginning to be interested in their restoration, and
possibly the design of other houses that reflect modern principles. New designs
may be inspired by magazines like Dwell,
which market modern residential architecture to the public, or even by changing
lifestyles, and changes in what people require from a house.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย “Even in
this area, the nuclear family is not so ubiquitous,” Jensen says. “A lot of
people have different living situations now, so I don’t think everybody is
looking for the same three-bedroom Colonial. And I think more people are willing
to say that’s a good thing.”
n
This article appears in Apr 21-27, 2004.
