Exterior view of the house designed by Arkin Tilt Architects and built by Cameron C. Hable Construction from the back yard.
Edward Caldwell
The award-winning projects in the 2013 HOUSES issue were selected carefully by the staff of Fine Homebuilding. This year, we decided to give our readers an opportunity to select their favorite of 10 projects nominated for our readers’ choice awards. The following slides will introduce you to the first, second and third place readers’ choice winners along with the other seven nominees.
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The first place winner of our readers’ choice award, this house achieved NC “healthy Built” and Energy Star standards. The river stone base and chimney anchor this house to the site. A porte cochere instead of garage minimizes the mass, and a variety of exterior spaces stitch the house to the lush landscape.
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North Carolina Mountain Lake House
Voted the readers’ choice second place this retirement home, as well as vacation house for extended family and friends, was conceived as a series of connected buildings, with wide eaves, generous porch and breezeway, and many outdoor spaces.
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Earning our readers’ choice for third place, this house is the modern evolution of the traditional Florida Cracker vernacular. Exposed timber framing, long eaves, a metal roof, raised foundation and a dogtrot conjure up images of Florida’s past. But this home is anything but history.
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Located on a Berkeley, California hillside, this home features an L-shaped layout with walled forecourt to shelter lush gardens around a compact and versatile plan. Gentle ramps, wide corridors and an elevator give access to all the core functions clustered on the main floor.
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Old Southern Charm in New Construction
The owners of this house wanted to be within walking distance of downtown Decatur, Georgia. The biggest challenge was to design a house that looked like it had always been a part of the turn of the century neighborhood in which it is located and not a new construction project.
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This contemporary two-story single-family residence was designed for an extremely narrow infill lot (30’x100′) in an established urban neighborhood. The home is the prototype for a new prefab homebuilding company and the full-time residence of the company’s founder.
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East Bay Remodel and Addition: A Study in Contrast
The street frontage of this 1930’s era split-level structure was charming but the small house no longer met the needs of the family of six. While the addition is barely visible from the front of the house, second story bedrooms and baths were added.
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The design goals for Eagle Rock were multi-faceted, beginning with the overarching idea to create a vacation home that would bring far-flung family members together on the same property where they vacationed in their youth.
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The EchoHaven House is the first house in a new 25 building lot development in the City of Calgary. Each lot is relatively small in order to reduce ecological footprint, and has good solar access. Homes are close to public transit and will share community amenities.
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This failing 1930 concrete house designed by Barry Byrne was brought up to modern Passive House Institute standards.
