Port Deposit, MD (1985)
Pi house is sited on the grassy ridge of a seven-acre property in rural Maryland. It faces south and looks down toward a rocky creek in a wooded valley. The client desired a small house that would express some aspect of his profession (a research statistician) and support his serious interest in classical music, opera and art. Requirements included a space for a grand piano (accommodated by a mid-level loft) plus bookshelves and display locations for prints and sculpture. Cooking, sleeping and bathing facilities were to be modest and efficient. Further, the client wanted an energy-conscious house that would include a degree of passive solar heating and natural ventilation. This is achieved by the use of an overall compact house-form with ample southern glazing, masonry heat-sink storage, thermal shades and high operable windows.
The conceptual basis for the spatial order of this house is the mathematical phenomenon Pi, among the most ancient of measuring instruments (and a figure used regularly by the client in his work). Pi is connected to the nine-square (by virtue of the Ahmes papyrus of ancient Egypt) which when expanded volumetrically becomes a 27 cube body. This cubic “corpo transparente” is the invisible organizational guide for functions and rooms, each of the 27 being marked by a fan, niche, counter, wood stove or other similar building element.
The house was designed to be expanded by receiving a “twin” structure, connected by a bridge housing the library and forming a gateway from the front of the house (north) toward the “garden” (south). Mr. Bingham opted to include the proposed “expansion” during the initial construction process.
John Lucas Architect
