A Space Cut Open For A Skylight

The main room runs deep beneath a high ceiling, with the living and dining areas set within one open space. Timber posts and beams mark intervals across it without enclosing either area. At the dining table, the brick wall rises well above the chairs.

The living area has a low profile within the taller room. From it, the dining space and kitchen remain in view, with no partition marking where one use ends and another begins. The room retains its full depth even when occupied.

The kitchen sits within the larger room, tucked beneath the span of a timber beam. A white counter faces outward, with a wooden surface set into it and four metal stools alongside. Behind it, dark cabinetry, a patterned backsplash and two hanging lights concentrate the cooking area. The brick wall remains visible beside the counter.

The main room’s depth and height are clearest around the dining table. In the living area, the seating brings the scale closer without closing off the space.

The kitchen remains part of that same volume. Dining, sitting and cooking have distinct places, but nothing interrupts the room between them.

The upper floor stops short of enclosing the room below. Cutouts in the floor align with openings overhead, so skylight can pass down into the lower living space. From the stair, hanging blue and ochre forms occupy the height between the two levels. The opening lets them be seen from below as well as above.

Upstairs, the cutouts shape the route through the space. Glass guards line the open edges, leaving views across the void and down to the level below. Timber posts and beams remain exposed beside white walls and pale flooring. The walkway follows the edges instead of crossing a continuous floor.

Moving along the upper level changes the view of the hanging forms: first across the opening, then down past them. The glass edge keeps that depth visible from the walkway.

At the stair, the floor gives way to the opening. Skylight continues past it to the room below.

Arched recesses remain in the exposed brick wall, their openings filled with brick. Sunlight crosses the uneven surface and picks out the mortar joints around each arch. The unplastered red masonry dates from 1881, and the infilled shapes interrupt its regular courses.

The white spiral stair turns beside the brick wall, its outer edge forming a continuous curve. Seen from above, the wedge-shaped treads gather around the tight center of the stair. From below, that curve passes in front of the straight timber beams. Glass leaves its profile visible, while trailing plants hang around it.

A rounded white guard passes in front of the original load-bearing Georgia yellow pine columns and beams. The timber runs straight across the curve, while the adjoining stair climbs in a direct flight. Glass lines the walkway beside the pale treads, keeping the stair’s angles visible from above. The rounded enclosure and the straight stair meet at the landing.

At some column-to-beam connections, cast-iron bolsters remain visible. The joints between the large timber members are left exposed.

The masonry holds another set of joints. In the sunlight, the outlines of the bricked-in arches remain clear.

The first small room sets a yellow bed frame against exposed brick, with green textiles and an orange accent close by. Its open bars leave the wall in view, giving the compact space depth. In the next room, pink, rust and brown meet green near the window. Sunlight crosses the pale floor, opening up the space beyond the bed.

On the roof, square deck tiles make a path between rows of potted plants. Flowers and tall stems rise against the white walls, with a water tower beyond them. Elsewhere, a green chair sits among larger pots beside a trellis. Steel water-tower supports stand above the planting.

The roof path stays clear between the pots, even where the plants spread toward it. Beyond the deck, the water towers remain in view.

Inside, white pipes and a ceiling fan sit above the bed. The yellow frame draws a sharp rectangle beneath them.