Guest House for a Private Residence

Lyle Cook Martin Architects

The project is located in a suburban residential neighborhood at the rear of an existing previously built residence strategically placed adjacent to an existing rear porch and swimming pool in an effort to enhance outdoor private gatherings.

Functionally, the guesthouse serves as a restroom and kitchenette for summer swimming and gatherings, as well as a guest house for visiting family, friends and colleagues, etc.

The structure takes its architectural aesthetic cues from the design of the original residence, but pushes the design envelope by including enhanced angular shapes and details. The original house was designed as a mixture of contextually compatible gabled roofs found in the neighborhood, with the addition of angular porches, slightly canted shapes, etc. With the guesthouse being located at the rear of the property, a more progressive version of the original house detailing felt appropriate. Shown in the slide presentation is an AIA award winning Tree House originally on display as one of 10 featured competition winning models for the 2000 “Terrific Tree Houses” exhibit at Nashville’s Cheekwood Botanical Garden’s. The architect brought the structure home and created a second life for the Treehouse on property, influencing the design of the original residence and eventually this current Guest House as well.

Much emphasis is placed on reusing left over salvaged brick, stone and locally harvested timbers from the original house build. New materials for the project include as many locally harvested, produced or sourced items as possible, including sustainable hardwoods from a local distributor, cast aluminum railing brackets from a local foundry, locally harvested and cut pallet boards from a local pallet company and ceramic bathroom tile from a local Italian owned tile plant.

Mechanical systems are comprised of a high efficiency variable flow refrigerant system with programmable controls. All lighting is controlled through programmable time clock controls. Both systems are easily modified through a cell phone app.

An intentional effort was made to purchase items not made locally, off-the-shelf. Standard, easily accessible goods are incorporated rather than hard to get, long lead-time items. An example of this is the use of standard corrugated metal siding as the underside of roof overhangs and all soffits.

A hidden goal for the project was to create a building and place that could inspire non-design professional friends and family to think beyond typically understood residential construction types, in this local area, and hopefully promote better architecture.