The Silver Lining House

The Silver Lining House. . "Silver Lining" is about being open to new possibilities when life appears to throw you an insurmountable challenge. Our twins' premature birth and loss of our son brought us back to Northwest Ohio, enabling new memories with our family, building a new community of friends that has embraced us and supported our mission and creating a legacy that will shine, like silver, for generations to come.", Owner-Nick and Jenn Hall, The Silver Lining House , Architect-MacPherson Architects, The design is inspired the Nature Effect of a silver lining, informing space and materiality, and how this architecture represents the Living Environment., The Hall family commissioned the Silver Lining House because of their desire to live in a vibrant in-town community and to invest in the Historic District while improving a downgraded property. Their Purpose stems from a life changing event that led to their return from California and the founding of Graham's Foundation, an international support group for families of premature babies., As Architects, we were inspired by the nature of this vision and how the layered ethereal effect of a silver lining can influence the movement and layering of the domestic environment. We also embraced the notion of a revisionist historical perspective toward the style of the house-in which the existing non-descript 1955 brick Ranch would be transformed into a 2015 residence of our time. The new design would be influenced by what it could have been-as if we were the original Architect and aware of the excellent examples of American Domestic Architecture from 1955 that are now recognized as being Architecturally significant., For the Historic Landmarks Commission, we presented the design to meet the tenants of the Department of the Interiors Guidelines for Historic Districts, where "Contemporary design is encouraged and is preferred over designs that try to look old. All buildings, structure and sites shall be recognized as products of their own time." The Perrysburg Historic Landmarks Commission approved the design on May 12th, 2014., The Silver Lining House features aspects of the Case Study and Bar Houses of the 1955 Mid- Century Modern period-small, minimalist, elegant, light as air, open and flowing layouts, floating panels of glass, concrete and metal with horizontal flat roof lines, all of which convey a sense of depth and serenity. Classic squares, golden rectangles and our study of Casimir science inform the proportional layout. Volume and Elevation studies relate to the figure ground neighborhood context, massing and scale proportions of the nearby modernist structures, the square faced Italianate Bricks, and the Bungalows with recessed horizontal porches., Materiality and construction of the residence utilizes current methods of sustainability. including the use of a rain screen envelope, thermal wrap, metal thermally broken windows and membrane roofing to achieve better moisture control and insulation value., Referenced below are Mid Century Modern American Classics, influenced by the International Modernist aesthetic, that are now considered American Domestic icons from the 1945-1965 period:, Farnsworth House - Mies van der Rohe, 1951 Piano, IL National Historic Landmark 2006, Glass House - Philip Johnson, 1949 New Canaan, CT National Historic Landmark 1997, Ash Street House - Philip Johnson, 1942 Cambridge, MA Cambridge Historic District, Case Study House No. 8 Charles + Ray Eames, 1944-1949 Los Angeles, CA National Historic Landmark 2008, Miller House Eero Saarineen, 1957 Columbus, IN National Historic Landmark 2000, Courtyard Bar House Stanley Saitowitz, 2002-2005 Napa Valley, CA Pax American Bar Houses