Located on a 1.5 acre lot that was formerly part of Bayberry Farm Nursery (c.1941), this 3000 SF residence is a modern addition to what was the nursery office and garages. The small office building was converted into an architect’s studio in 1997 which is still used today. The massing of the home mimics the simple gabled forms of the flanking structures, but the architectural expression is abstracted. For example, the studio windows have low timber lintels and the house has tall floor-to-ceiling windows and walls of glass. The studio has exposed cross-ties and the house has clean high ceilings with no door and window trim. The studio was built with cinder block walls while the house incorporates monolithic concrete block at the gable-ends. The house connects to the studio with a glassy gallery and to the garages via an open breezeway.  These connectors continue the studio’s dyed concrete floors, but add modern runway lighting, birch veneer ceilings, and flat rooves.

Despite being located in what is now suburban Annapolis, the front door is placed perpendicular to the street to enhance privacy and reflect the rural history of the site. The back terrace runs the length of the house and opens onto a central meadow surrounded by the pre-existing formal gardens.  The terrace is cast in dyed concrete and includes a raised bench and a pair of abstracted boxwood orbs.  These elements are echoed in the living room with a concrete fireplace cast as an extension of the basement formwork below.  Two monorail stair cases with solid oak treads, several live edge countertops and birch veneer walls repeat the use of natural materials to add warmth to the modern interior. By abstracting, intensifying, and recombining key elements of the pre-existing structures and formal landscaped setting, the addition is designed to produce a sense of tranquility, balance, and seclusion.