Modern Dogtrot Home in Middle Tennessee

CLIENT

Emma and Andrew are seeking to build a new home at 900 Franklin Rd. in Brentwood, Tennessee that will help them maintain their healthy lifestyle that has allowed them to lose 50 and 100 pounds, respectively. In order to keep the weight off, this new home for the couple, their 10-year-old daughter Grace, and their dog Hercules, encourages physical activity, indoors and out, fosters better eating habits, and is a healthier environment overall.

CONCEPT

The design of the wellness house in Brentwood, Tennessee is inspired by the vernacular traditions of southern American architecture and is specifically influenced by the traditional dogtrot house plan. The wellness house interprets these traditions in a contemporary way that makes the house feel up-to-date and cutting edge while paying homage to the traditions and context in which it sits. It addresses issues in sustainability and active design, creating an atmosphere that promotes physical activity, good health and well-being, as well as sustaining the family through environmental responsibility, in turn leading to lower utility bills, carbon footprint, and better indoor air quality. The feel is “cleaned-up vernacular,” with sharp, precise, modern lines and plenty of white surfaces, in keeping with both traditional southern and modern design aesthetics, but also incorporating local materials that provide texture and interest, like stone and reclaimed wood. Referencing the traditional dogtrot and to encourage getting outside and physical activity, there is a strong indoor-outdoor connection with multifunctional spaces that open up to the landscape, taking advantage of cross-breezes.

RESEARCH

Obesity has become a serious problem in America, and the clients Emma and Andrew need a house that is going to help them maintain activity levels and keep off the weight they have lost. This can be achieved through thoughtful and conscious design, encouraging activity with visually interesting corridors and multiple levels necessitating stairs. Research has shown that using stairs more often has major health benefits in the long run, so each major room in the house (the living room, the dining room and kitchen, and each bedroom) is given its own "level" two feet above/below the levels surrounding it, so that routine foot-traffic leads the clients up and down more stairs than in a traditional two-level house. Well-designed activity-specific areas, creating a connection to the outdoors, and encouraging healthy eating and living habits in the kitchen and by minimizing TV usage can all help contribute to maintaining a healthier lifestyle.

SUSTAINABILITY

Building a sustainable home is also a goal in the Wellness House, helping to promote a home that consumes less energy and thus lower bills in the long run, better indoor air quality for good health, and enviornmental responsibility. Sustainability is addressed throughout the project, specifically in three main areas: high-insulation construction, site orientation, and green finishes. The exterior walls of the house are over 18” thick, using double 2x6 construction with batt insulation in the cavities, an additional 2” gap between each layer of studs also filled with insulation, rigid insulation sheathing on the exterior of the studs, and a 2” airspace between the finish siding and the rest of the wall that also enhances the R-value of the thermal envelope. The house is oriented at 45 degree angles to the southern direction, with less glazing on the southern front than the northern facing back of the house, and overhangs that block out the hot summer sun where there are windows on the south side; middle Tennessee, in the middle of the deep South, is relatively warm most of the year, so solar gain in the winter isn’t as pressing an issue as keeping the house cool in the warm spring, summer, and early fall months. The house features multiple breezeways and sliding window walls that can be fully opened to catch the year-round prevailing southern breezes and bring natural cooling through the space. The north side of the house, especially the public space, is virtually all sliding glass walls that can open up to the outdoors and catch the pleasant northern and eastern sunlight. In addition to the wall construction and siting components, many of the materials and finishes in the house are green or recycled products. The main material found throughout the home is reclaimed wood flooring, wall, and ceiling cladding; the stone used on the exterior of the house would be a locally sourced gray-stone. The exterior cladding is a product by Rieder called Oko Skin, a glass-fiber reinforced concrete panel with a modern look that hearkens back to traditional clapboard siding; while many consider concrete to be an unsustainable material, Oko Skin is made with all organic and natural materials, not using any artificial chemicals or coloring agents, and has a primary energy consumption almost half of fiber cement, an accepted green alternative. In addition, the cement product is fire-resistant, durable, and poses no disposal issues when its lifespan is over.