This is the first of a series of posts, titled “open house”, that I’m beginning on our blog – these will be photographic tours spotlighting selected projects.
My first offering is a second home we designed for a substantially sized family. The house is situated on a wooded river-front lot in Palmetto Bluff, a lovely development in the town of Bluffton, which is located in the low country of South Carolina. Since the house was to serve as a vacation gathering for large groups of family and friends, it was a programatic necessary to have an abundance of bedrooms and bathrooms (seven of each to be exact). A plan this copious certainly had the potential to result in an undesirable bloated structure.
In designing the house, we decided to whittle down the framework into a series of small camp-like buildings. These buildings would be peppered along the river bank and be connected by a series of screened porches. The kitchen, living and dining room would serve as the main lodge of this camp while the media room/bar, master suite, guest suites and children’s bunk room (playfully coined “the chicken house”) would become subservient river shacks. The interstitial porches lazily accommodate dining, gathering or sole repose. This was to be an architecture not of object, but of collection. As a result, the deconstructed design belies the scale of the program and maintains the humility desired for a sleepy environment; the visitor never quite sees the house in entirety – only glimpses are experienced. Finally, the entire wood-clad complex was bathed in shades of natural greens, thus completing the receding lake camp imagery. Over time, this familial house has become a muted witness, lolling in the humid Southern landscape, ever ready to open its arms to the oncoming troops.
The project architect for this house was Chris Tippett and was decorated by the talented eye and masterful hand of Tracy Hickman of Hickman Design Associates. A feature on this house previously appeared in Elegant Homes magazine.
Faithfully,
Greg Tankersley for McAlpine Tankersley
All photographs by Richard Leo Johnson
