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I told you the Forest Hills Neighborhood was good to me! This is one of the more unusual styles I’ve seen in DC. Any fans?
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Line Judge
6:16pm
I thought the same thing. Maybe this is a new feature, pictures of people waiting in... 
6:14pm
Adams Morgan is turning into the next Columbia Heights!
Native Son
6:12pm
I can't get all hot and bothered about Trump being involved - at the very least he knows...
Anonymous
6:10pm
Doesn't anyone watch "House Hunters?" There are 4 bedroom houses all over the country...
6:06pm
Whatever. It's still a dumb thing to do.
I think it looks like a library.
Want to know more about the style and see more pictures of this house? Check out our web page!
http://www.alterurban.com
click \Projects\, then click \Stage Front House\
I’ve seen this project somewhere before….it is very unique for dc. Make sure to check out the interior design and night shots of the exterior. Again, VERY unique project in Washington, DC.
Bryan-
You have probably seen the house on the cover of Home & Design Magazine. I thik this place is amazing–check out the article:
http://www.homeanddesign.com/article.asp?article=19591&paper=&cat=176
I saw this house on residential design & build… i loved it.
This is…depressing, ugly, terrible, destructive to the urban environment, arrogant and looks like it will age about as well as a Dry-Vit CVS. Alter Urban is the name of this firm?! They should call themselves “Un-Urban Pro-Ugly We Chase After and Copy In A Watery Version of Already Terribly Ugly Avant Garde Nonsense”. Not catchy, but accurate.
In 15 years, when we all drive past this and laugh at how terribly ugly it is, and in 25 when it gets ripped down and replaced with something as short sighted and arrogant again, the National Gallery of Art by John Russel Pope will still be beautiful.
Funny you should mention the National Gallery the National Building Museum people loved it
Please go back to your 75 year old ginger bread box and shut the door. Those are the houses being knocked down faster than they were built
This is the most ignorant thing yet said on this blog! So because beautiful old houses get knocked down, this is reason enough to cheer it on? And where exactly are these getting knocked down? You are a sad, angry little person, and your comment is useless, and exposes only your empty head and cruel, black heart.
This building is yet another abortion gone wrong in a city that has so much incredible context to study and learn from. The cold and soulless nature of this project make it such that it could be anywhere- it has little or no connection to this unique and wonderful city that we live in, and frankly it looks like it belongs in Potomac with the McMansions.
When we look at neighborhoods like Cleveland Park, Mt. Pleasant, Georgetown, etc – it becomes clear that the urbanism and the architecture have a scale and richness to them that people can relate to and feel comfortable with. Ask yourself why people love to live in these places! This building is the opposite I fear – contributing to the gaping architectural black hole that is slowly sucking the true beauty out of Washington.
@ I_LOVE_PEARS – well said! Though in 25 years this house may have already fallen down . . .
I’ve seen the house, and consider it a good fit with the neighborhood. The surrounding houses are large, and occupy large parcels of land, so this structure really doesn’t stand out as a “McMansion”. It is a modern design, but hopefully people are not stuck in the “New Urbanist” brainwash that says architecture has to reflect styles circa 1910 to be valid.
Great work. It is nice to see new life in this area. This house brings a much needed new element to this street.
I have visited the inside of this house, it is beautiful and more importantly it was built to suit the purpose of the owner. The guys who designed this house are amazing architects, I have worked with them personally and their focus on integrating design with lifestyle and practicality, while utilizing green technology should be commended.
Ever heard of Robert Venturi? Apparently “I_Love_Pears” has not. Perhaps the new aesthetic of contemporary design today is to make the exact statements of shock (Either good or bad) to those observers such as us? Maybe if you actually understood how the building operates it may not confuse you as much. I appreciate hopw that building (whatever style you may say it is in) actually works and provides all of the needs adnd esired of the client. Hmmm… Should form actually equal function… usually good architecture does.
I’d suggest that you might actually study the plans before you go ahead and make overarching statements.
Either way… good job AlterUrban!
I have studied the plans and photos, and read the descriptions of the “big idea” on the Alter Urban website at John’s and linnaeaks urging. Style always involves choice, but in terms of how the building operates, well, yes, of course the architects respond formally to the needs of their clients, the ‘function’ in linneaks’ argument. But form also involves choice, as there are any number of formal responses to the same program. No, form does not equal function, and it is unfortunate that this argument has been trotted out repeatedly over the last hundred years or so by architects of all persuasions and commentators as a justification for choice.
But let us set aside style for the moment. Regarding the “big idea” and the house’s detractors: the house is anti-urban. Not because it doesn’t look to the character of the neighborhood for rhythm, proportion and materiality – though there may be validity in this argument, we would never know anything of the neighborhood from the photos on Alter Urban’s website – the house is anti-urban because it takes a hard stance and deliberately turns its back to the street. This is a suburban strategy explored as long ago as Radburn and still employed in suburban developments nationwide as “snout houses” with garages on the front and minimal openness to the street. Ironically, it is this same posture that has been so heavily criticized in the Baltimore public housing projects which have been razed over the past 10 years as part of the Hope 6 revitalization projects. Urban planners and government bureaucrats finally realized that good urban neighborhoods are made by engaging the street, but the architects at Alter Urban, at least in this project, are deliberately disengaged from the street. Look at the plans. This is a snout house in the city, it doesn’t matter its appearance (style). MTS is right.
Crap. And the mere fact that its supporters are relying on post modern architectural theory to defend it merely underscore its crappiness.
Plain and simple: Does this building, nestled in an urban environment, engage the street or those that walk along it?
PoP aside, who has an eye for observation, nothing about this building engages or informs the urban fabric. It is crap.
“Plain and simple: Does this building, nestled in an urban environment, engage the street or those that walk along it? ”
——————————-
Forest Hills is not an urban part of DC.
look at this street view in that are:http://tiny.cc/XS8Au
thats more rural than most of the suburbs.
i feel like a hillbilly just looking at it.
sorry.. link here:
http://tiny.cc/XS8Au
Complaining about something simply because it isn’t something else is stupid. Forest Hills isn’t Cleveland Park. The homeowners don’t live the same kind of life that a rowhome owner in Mt Pleasant lives. Beauty is subjective. Different isn’t bad. Different is good.
No one was addressing beauty. They were addressing the anti-urban disposition of this house. Stop reacting like a child and start reading and trying to consider something intellectually. Different isn’t always good. Cancer, for example, are different cells. They aren’t good. Think of this type of architecture as cancer cells that kill cities.
I take it back. It is ugly. But striving for beauty surely must be what we as architects strive for.
Well, yes, I have heard of Robert Venturi, a man whose architecture always falls short of the verbose theory which underlies it. Have you just now heard of him? He has been around since the late 60s! Well, let me direct you towards Michael Graves then, another post modernist whose work always disappoints. How about all of that generation? Eisenman! You must like him. He tries to destroy and make ugly everything and everywhere he builds! What a bizarre argument you make!
The ignorance about New Urbanism from a previous poster is depressing, but such willful misunderstanding of facts is impossible to argue against. It’s like arguing with Sarah Palin. If truth isn’t important, then just say anything that makes you feel better about the thin crap you hope to copy in your own architecture.
Anyways, you both know I am right. Traditional architecture transcends style, and contemporary avant garde stuff like this has nothing but a momentary style that is at best too thin to register and at worst is beyond laughable and flirts with the depressing. It is suburban shlock designed to fool those who fear being called a philistine.
When you need me, I’ll be in my 19th century rowhouse reading about the architecture of Lutyens, Pope, McKim Mead and White, Louis Sullivan, Burnham, Greene and Greene and a thousand others who took architecture in beautiful directions! You can enjoy your cold avant garde nonsense and convince yourself it suits “the client.” Let’s hope it suits the next owner! Oh wait! It won’t age well, is only meant to reflect a moment in time as determined arbitrarily by one person’s attempts at rationalization, and by definition of the avant garde’s architectural fears of the eternal, will be out of date in a few years time, and so will be torn down anyways! Ahh…the ignorance of conservative groupthink. (yes…conservative. This type of shizz is the status quo, and you fear that others do things more beautiful and different from what the architectural press overlords tell you to like!) Enjoy the suburbs.
You are really in love with yourself and your opinions…
How so? Because I have them and they don’t line up with yours? That makes me in love with myself? Try intellectual thought and artful consideration. Then respond. Until then, you will continue to sound like an unknowing child.
Some of the thoughtful critic is valid, but most of it I disagree with. Pears your comments certainly sound very personal! Doubt you’re willing to leave your real name by those name calling rants?
Some of the critic is born from the pictures posted, they do not show scale correctly, details in the walls, or the context. This place is worth a walk past. Yes, this house picks up perfectly on the surrounding structures. I’m not sure how you could conclude otherwise? Down the street you’ll find several amazing 50′s houses with strong horizontal lines, across the street two simple bright white houses and diagnol a 60′s concrete church.
The true beauty of Forrest Hills is that it’s not Old Town Alexandria, Georgetown or Clevaland Park – it’s an eclectic neighborhood, always has been and yet the design chose to pick up on the surrounding materials. The house alignment creates a a powerful street edge and a responsible terminus to the end of 31st Street. I absolutly love the layers of landscape that so elegantly combined with the layers of the house as you walk past in the summer. Even more succesful is how small the house appears from the street compared to most houses in the neighborhood; who knew it was more than 9000 sf! And WOW to the amazing courtyard, what stunning space to spend a hot day in August DC day.
9500 sqf? really? why on earth do you need so much space? Oh yeah to fill it up with concrete and more concrete. I like modern but I don’t get a McMansion size house
Did someone run over I_LOVE_PARRIS’S dog this morning?
These attacks seem very personal and full of jealous anger!!
What’s wrong Paris, do you need a hug or a job?
Though Paris is lovely, my screen name involves Pears. That aside, these aren’t personal attacks at all. I don’t know who designed these, their history, their gender, or anything like that at all. Personal generally refers to individuals with distinct identities. I haven’t done anything like that at all. On the contrary, it is you who became the first person to get personal by suggesting my dog got run over this morning! (I don’t own a dog, and I have a great job, but your sarcasm and avoidance of the truth of what I and it appears a few others are writing are neither appreciated nor surprising.) As for the hug, your insincere offer shall be graciously declined.
For the record, I still have yet to here a cogent argument as to why this “house” is any good at all. Again, file this in the “not at all shocking” column. What else can one expect from the unthinking automatons who do and say what they are told? This lack of any intelligent or well thought out (to say nothing of well written) response is a classic symptom of the intellectual leprosy which infects this profession of ours. Think for yourselves for once and stop saying what Record or Metropolis tells you you are supposed to think! Travel for your own sake, look at wonderful old buildings, ask questions like “why are Rome’s historic quarters far more lovely than the modern suburbs around?” or “why are New York’s pre WWII quarters far more lovely than the modern suburbs around?” or “why are Beijing’s old quarters unbelievably more lovely and livable than the horror of it’s contemporary nightmare?” I know you won’t, as the answers will upset you. But you should.
Still, you see, nothing personal! What’s your next bit o’ argumentative obfuscation? I certainly look forward to it!
The inside is gorgeous and I don’t mind the long exterior wall but the part of the house that sticks up above it is jarring and lacks symmetry. To me, it appears that a lot of the contemporary architectural styles, while striking, don’t really invite someone to want to go inside. If that is the owner’s intention than that’s fine but it always leaves me a little cold. I wish I could see the house in relation to the street it sits on. Sometimes that makes a big difference.
MK – on http://www.alterurban.com, under Projects, Stage Front, then scrolling to Page 11 it shows a site map. The front door and break in the long wall aligns with a T intersection creating axial alignment. The “Big Idea” also explains more about design intent.
Is beauty subjective? Yes, in some ways. But architecture is not merely what is beautiful and what is not – it is not merely art. Architecture is an intellectual discussion about the built environment.
Yes – this is one way to design a building in this neighborhood. What I propose is that there is a better way. By studying and understanding the existing successful architecture and urbanism that surrounds this house and this neighborhood, one could have figured out how this house could have made the environment a better place – a better street, a better site, and a better neighborhood.
While I feel strongly that this modern style house in NO way fits in with this street and is an incredible missed opportunity – let’s ignore style for the time being. As architects – if a client demanded this be a modern house and some architect would have to design in that “style”- certain parameters then become fixed in this argument. The house will be modern – but ask yourself these questions:
Does the house use materials that relate it to the surrounding houses? Or in some specific way to Washington, DC? Does this house connect or relate to this beautiful historic neighborhood in any way? Does this house use a window type, a roof type, or at least an imagery that tries in some way to recall anything in the vicinity? Is this house an Applebees – where it has no connection to its context and could be placed anywhere – OR is it the Holocaust Museum – which picks up on the surrounding architecture, forms, materials – even though it is a modern building?
I argue that if this building had been designed in a different way – a way that considers it’s surroundings – it would be more appropriate and contribute far more to the neighborhood, instead of ignoring the context of the neighborhood, the architecture, and the street.
I argue further that if that building had been designed in a vernacular language, that not only would it satisfy all of the aforementioned issues –but it would be warm, comforting, and (subjectively) beautiful to 99% of the real people that interact with it.
The current house as designed is cold, oppressive and harsh. It is a great house for someone affixed to a fad and an idea about HOW they should live and WHAT it should look like. If we look at our current history, this building will in our lifetimes be torn down, and likely replaced with the fetish of the new age to come.
Who got personal? You called me a nutjob because I have an opinion that is not your own! Very convincing argument. If only you could read as well as you rant! My screen name involves a fruit that rhymes with “Bears”. But Paris is a lovely city. Much lovelier than it’s modern suburbs. I wonder why that is? Could it be the city is made up of various traditional architectures and the suburbs of modern architecture? No…couldn’t be that. That would mean one is better than the other in positive concrete terms.
I have a great job, have no dog, and decline your insincere offer for a hug. I hope you feel good though, that you took the time to try to hurt me by name calling! Keep in mind I kept what I said about the architecture, not about anyone in that firm (who by the way I know nothing of).
Your childlike flailing is a classic symptom of the intellectual leprosy that infects this profession. Think and travel, and have a thought other than what Metrolpolis and Record tell you to have.
I find this place absolutely beautiful. I like the stark exterior which, to me, gives the lavish and impeccably laid-out interior a special kind of privacy.
The stark exterior gives the interior a special kind of privacy? What do these words mean? How is it they make any sense at all?
I see a strong contrast between a lavish inside and a stark exterior. As an owner of such a property, I would rather not flaunt a lavish lifestyle & would have no problem with neighbors finding my property boring, cold, or library-like. A means of keeping a lavish lifestyle under wraps is what I meant by privacy. I’m also intrigued by pop-ups, would be the last person to name-drop an architect, and am infuriatingly ignorant of New Urbanism…
I found the house on Street View and it is less jarring overall than I thought. It’s location on the street and the surrounding landscape of the neighborhood helps it considerably but my opinion regarding the part of the house which rises above the wall stands. That white part of the house takes away its grace. What could have been a great house is just kind of interesting. For all of that, it is far better than that modern church down near the corner. There’s something about it that’s disturbing to the eye.
I didn’t know you took walks by boring office buildings in Reston.
To the architects at Alter Urban – excellent job. The fact that you all appear to be only 30 years old and have already designed something that has invoked so much passion, in both praise and condemnation, means that you clearly have done something right. How boring would it be to create something that EVERYBODY likes? Regarding your detractors, which appear to be in the minority anyway, let them say and repeat whatever they want to. I’m sure you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank in the decades to come. Keep up the good work.
Right…because financial success equals good work! I think Chumbawumba made lots of money from their one hit, and though now their song is universally laughed at (I am drawing here a strong parallel to architecture that chases momentary reflections of some arbitrary idea of the Zeitgeist) I am sure they all laughed their way to the bank. DCLifer…you really think it is boring to make something everybody likes? What an odd thing to say. I guess pizza from Naples, the sound of a train in the distance, and the touch of a loved one are all boring. BO-RING! Sorry mom, no more hugs. Delicious food!? Bring me some sour milk instead! Trains in the distance?! Please! I’ll take the highway noise on a rainy day instead. That other stuff is dull!
Their is a reason why you (DCLifer) most likely do not like the Chevy Chase Branch Library, or even the main library, by the lauded modernist Mies Van Der Rohe. Their is a reason why you probably do like the Library of Congress or the NY Public Library. I’ll let you figure out the reason.
Well…it looks like every other boring pseudo-intellectualized asinine contempo house out there. Sigh…I give the architects credit for copying bad buildings from Architectural Record well. As for the beauty of the object, well, the clunky windows, awkward massing in the house that pops up behind the wild-west front, and the strange “traditionalish” (read disastrously amateur) usage of classical profiles prove that the whole is way less than the sum of its mediocre parts. Let’s hope these architects check their egos in the future and look at a book or two of the work of their superiors!
Another ugly modern building ruining my beautiful city. These chaps should stick to Baltimore. Maybe they can design an oh-so clever building with a nudge nudge wink wink usage of form stone, discuss into the ground what they did and why their opinions are good as gold, and call it cutting edge architecture. What a joke. ERG!! Such egos to not give a rats behind what their rude intrusion does to the city in which they build. Some other posters are right – this is so bad that it can’t last long. It is already dated looking. I agree that they ought to go for buildings that are universally beautiful, and not idiosyncratically ugly.
I’d like to offer a foreign prospective. I am Chinese. I grew up in Beijing – this looks like small versions of the badly made buildings being built all over in my home country. If there is an uglier city past Beijing, I do not know it. Don’t let this happen to your lovely city. It is too bad to know things get built looking in this way. Very bad for cities.
Some of the thoughtful critic is valid, but most of it I disagree with. Pears your comments certainly sound personal, doubt you’re willing to leave your real name by those name calling rants?
Some of the critic is born from the pictures posted, they do not show scale correctly, details in the walls, or the context. This place is worth a walk past. Yes, this house picks up perfectly on the surrounding structures. I’m not sure how you could conclude otherwise? Down the street you’ll find several amazing 50′s houses with strong horizontal lines, across the street two simple bright white houses and diagnol a 60′s concrete church.
The true beauty of Forrest Hills is that it’s not Old Town Alexandria, Georgetown or Clevaland Park – it’s an eclectic neighborhood, always has been and yet the design chose to pick up on the surrounding materials. The house alignment creates a a powerful street edge and a responsible terminus to the end of 31st Street. I absolutly love the layers of landscape that so elegantly combined with the layers of the house as you walk past in the summer. Even more succesful is how small the house appears from the street compared to most houses in the neighborhood; who knew it was more than 9000 sf! And WOW to the amazing courtyard, what stunning space to spend a hot day in August DC day.
Well – It always cheers my heart to see passionate discussion about aesthetics. But I do love formstone. . .
its a perfectly fine design for the suburbs. i like it better than the neo-colonials and many other suburban/ rural designs i often see.
the interior picts are pretty nice. i love the bar and the mr. bubbles chandelier.
Whether you like the building or not, it’s always disconcerting that the architects are assumed to have these big egos and attitudes. Maybe they, like most of us, are trying hard to do their best. It works out magnificently sometimes and falls short in others. Could this be a better building? Sure. But maybe the discussion should be directed to what can be learned from this. What’s successful and what needs work. I commend the architects for the effort- modern architecture is extremely difficult to do successfully.
Apparently after losing her ‘America Idol’ gig, Paula Abdul is now commenting on architecture under the Monica alias.
Paula’s e-for-effort comments aside, this house is on the cusp of greatness. It’s like a great new sandwich on a hard roll…the inside is incredible; something we’ve never seen, tasted, or envisioned before…but days later the flaps of skin hanging from the roof of our mouth just remind us of the rough hard exterior.
If the architects are really as young as they appear on their website (and they don’t get cast in Pulp Fiction the musical), I’m looking forward to their future work.
ps – Even Jimmy Reuben didn’t use rye his first try.
I_LOVE_PEARS – do you have any links for any of your projects?
i think i love this house even more now that i see the reaction it elicits from people like pears.
Johnny,
I like it. I am a fan of this style. What is the connection to you? Happy New Year.
Shaun
I think the house is absolutely fantastic! Some people are going on about the design, etc., but as a realtor working with clients, I have to meet the needs of what they are looking for in a home to purchase. If I fail, they will find another realtor. I am sure it is not any diffenet for an architecture, interior designer, etc.
This home I am sure was based on what the client wanted in a home. Working with their architects from Alter Urban,
this was the design they wanted. The key to the final design is the architect understanding what their client wants!
It really doesn’t matter what anyone else likes or does not like!
All this ownership about the neighborhood is interesting. I grew up on Brandywine St. and lived there from the 1950′s until the 70′s. It was definitely a suburban neighborhood. There were many modern houses being built in the area especially closer to the park. We loved the diversity and enjoyed the families that moved in our neighborhood. I was angry when the church was built next to “the clay field” now the park and ball field. That seemed out of place in a neighborhood. If everyone would enjoy a sense of community instead of criticizing everyone else, then life could get back to be about enjoyment of living in such a great area.
andy,
what do you mean by ownership?
Ugly as sin. They neighbors could not have been happy about this addition to their neighborhood.
It looks like it would fit into the AU campus pretty well, though.
If I had $6.5 million, I’d buy it. (They’d probably take $6.2 million.) http://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/3017-Gates-Rd-NW-20008/home/9992160
I came across this recently, and thought it might add some humor to this old conversation. I think this nonsense house, once photographed with the self-impressed, would fit perfectly on this blog!
http://unhappyhipsters.com/