Muse House:
A single-family residence situated in a fabricated urban framework in Lower Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, PA
(2020)
Townhouse Typologies of Lower Lawrenceville Neighborhood
Location of Site in Lower Lawrenceville
The neighborhood of Lawrenceville consists of four separate grids which developed due to the topography of the area. The site, an empty plot of land beside a large condo building and near corridors of housing, sits at the intersection of these grids. The site sits on a commercial and residential zoning area and is within walking distance of many desirable destinations including parks, schools, and a corridor of retail spaces along Butler Street. A section of 11 students developed the principles for an urban framework to occupy this site, creating parcels for individual houses, access to shared workspaces, and areas for communal eating and lounging. The framework is comprised of four pairs and one trio of houses, each group of residences sharing a workspace for varying artist types.
The regulating framework plan features a grid sympathetic to the directions of Penn Ave and 37th Street. The buildings are pushed to the edges of the site, with workspaces oriented outward and the houses oriented to the center. Within the shelter of the buildings, a privatized communal area is the central focus of the site.
Shared workspace orientation rotates in response to the streets they face. Building masses privatize interior spaces while preserving an openness in the center communal spaces. Compressed, narrow entrances to the site emphasize this spatial release. The flex lawn and communal dining space are separated zones but connect visually across the leveled interior of the framework.
The massing of our site valued the relationship of the surrounding buildings to the outdoor communal areas. Setbacks were a key feature of our framework, with the aim to increase natural light and prioritize the communal spaces by emphasizing a connectivity from balcony to site. All buildings have a forecourt setback on the ground floor and upper floor setback for a balcony area. The buildings along Woolslayer Way have a 50% third floor maximum so that the southern light can reach the communal areas and the buildings along Penn Avenue. The massing animation displays the process of developing the parcels and volumes for the urban framework.
Model Views of the Finalized Urban Framework
At the northwest corner of the urban framework live the pastry chefs, their workspace on the corner of Penn Avenue and 37th Street. Making custom cakes and other desserts for catered events, the pastry chefs required a workspace with a small commercial kitchen and a storefront presence to sell desserts and coffee for take out along the street edge. The garage door is used to load materials, ingredients, and product in and out of the workspace frequently.
The workspace adjoins two residences: House A and House B, each dwelling hosting a single family. House A hosts one adult and one older parent, and House B is occupied by two adults and two children, ages one and four.
Orthographic Drawings of Workspace and its Relation to the Residences
Muse House (House A above) uses the archetypal Lawrenceville townhouse as precedence for its composition and mass. The house consists of a primary heavy timber structure and a wrapping masonry veneer. This brick cladding visually integrates the residence in the neighborhood context and provides a distinct threshold condition for the urban framework along 37th Street. The spacing of the heavy timber frame shifts, transitioning from dense in spaces of gathering and moving towards open in spaces of transition. The windows respond to the changing frame, organized in the typological stacking of the neighborhood. The openings increase and decrease in height and width based on floor and column spacing.
View of Residence from Urban Framework Communal Space
View of 37th Street Facades of Muse House and Shared Workspace from Penn Avenue
Heavy Timber Frame Spacing
Access to Natural Light
Program Diagram
Spatial Sequence
Structural Strategy
Materials and Assembly
The timber structure is used expressively, exposed throughout the interior of the house. This experience culminates on the third floor with exposed beams and joists highlighted by the western light captured by the pitched roof. The exposed framing is also experienced from the communal space, as the brick cladding does not fully enclose the timber frame. The structure is revealed at the site facing corner, large window openings highlighting the timber structure and harvesting southern light.
First Floor View towards Double Height Space
Third Floor Lighting Experience
Entering the residence from the communal space of the urban framework, one steps onto a split level walkway. Communal spaces occupy the bottom two floors of the house, connected spatially by a double height volume and sequentially by the split level walkway. The kitchen and dining area are on the first floor with connection to the pastry kitchen of the adjacent workspace. The gathering space occupies the second floor. The third floor serves as a retreat from the openness of the first and second levels with separate bedrooms for the occupants of the house.
Lawrenceville Studies + Massing Principles + Bakery Workspace Program in Collaboration with Sharon Fung
Link for House Program B