{"id":1139,"date":"2010-04-14T21:53:39","date_gmt":"2010-04-14T21:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2019-08-13T09:57:05","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T13:57:05","slug":"philly-wrap-up-1-split-level-house-in-the-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/2010\/04\/philly-wrap-up-1-split-level-house-in-the-street\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly Wrap-Up 1: Split-Level House in the Street"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n

Fitting “contemporary” design into existing neighborhoods and development can be a tricky business, especially where the existing character is strongly defined and fairly uniform. \u00a0As new projects fill in holes in our more-developed areas of Montgomery County, designers will mount these challenges with greater and lesser success.<\/p>\n

A good case study is the Split-Level House in Philadelphia. \u00a0Designed by local architect Qb<\/a>, it has been featured in several design magazines and websites (including the fantastic archidose.org). \u00a0But seeing the buildings close-up and in context (which is often conspicuously absent in much architecture coverage) is the real test for how the design works.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

So here’s the shot down 4th Street. \u00a0The height is in the right place, but I think the excavated corner and the material change at the garage is visually disruptive. \u00a0Perhaps if that area at the entry could be used as a patio it might connect better to the street, but I seem to remember it being a (vacant) planting bed. \u00a0(More on the cupola down the street in a moment.)<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Looking down Poplar, however, I think the house is more successful. \u00a0The height is good, the change in materials recalls the base-middle-top of the rowhouses, and the windows continue the established rhythm. \u00a0Much better.<\/p>\n

You also don’t often get to see the back of the buildings very often either. \u00a0The patio will probably be a little enclosed, assuming a party wall neighbor, but for now it is quite airy. \u00a0Maybe when the neighbors put something up they will move the tables out front!<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Also a bit of a detail of the corner, for your delectation.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

And finally, for contrast, a bit more of the neighborhood: most positively 4th Street. \u00a0Awesome. \u00a0Enjoy.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n\"\"<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fitting “contemporary” design into existing neighborhoods and development can be a tricky business, especially where the existing character is strongly defined and fairly uniform. \u00a0As new projects fill in holes in our more-developed areas of Montgomery County, designers will mount these challenges with greater and lesser success.<\/p>\n

A good case study is the Split-Level House in Philadelphia. \u00a0Designed by local architect Qb, it has been featured in several design magazines and websites (including the fantastic archidose.org). \u00a0But seeing the buildings close-up and in context (which is often conspicuously absent in much architecture coverage) is the real test for how the design works.<\/p>\n

So here’s the shot down 4th Street. \u00a0The height is in the right place, but I think … Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1139"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6255,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions\/6255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}