The Modern Atlanta Home Tour is a two day self-guided tour of homes in Atlanta. The architecture tour is mostly private residences, but occasionally a few commercial buildings are featured. It is usually held on a weekend in mid June – MA was founded in 2007. The tour is the finale of “Design is Human Week” – a week of speakers and events focusing on design, sustainability, and innovation.
Project: Witter Residence
Location: 524 Oakview Road, Decatur, GA 30030
Architect: Staffan Svenson, Density, LLC.
Landscape: CORE Landscape Group, Inc.
Year Completed: 2013
Square Footage: 4,500 sq ft.
6 levels:
– car port
– front porch, living room, bathroom
– kitchen, dining area, flex room, bathrooms, back porch
– library
– two office spaces, balcony
– two bedrooms, bathroom, master bedroom and bathroom
The most striking feature of this home is the cat-walk metal bridge inside the living space that connects the bedroom level with the two office spaces. The owners are writers and work from home – the architect said that they wanted a physical transition within the house: from home-life to starting the work day. The bridge bends and slopes, and the deck is made of widely spaced grid metal – intentionally creating a difficult transition to and from the offices.
The front of the house with a carport, main floor screened porch, and top floor balcony.
The entry door is located on the side of the house. Notice the concrete walls with impressions from the wooden forms.
Metal siding intentionally allowed to rust.
The back side of the house – the white upper portion is the master bedroom, with a screen porch below on the first floor. The rusted section – the top & bottom floors are bedrooms.
View the corner of the back side of the house with “porthole” windows.
Walking through the front door.
You would think that the most noticeable feature of the living room would be the “porthole” round windows or the folding porch doors… but the first thing that grabs attention in the space is the metal catwalk. It is fun how the spherical light fixtures mimic the round windows.
The catwalk connects the sleeping quarters with the two office spaces at he front of the home. Since it was required for all the guests on the tour to remove their shoes, you could really feel how much the widely-spaced metal hurt your bare feet. This was completely intentional – the home owners wanted to be forced to get dressed to go to the office in the morning. Believe me, when working from home, wearing comfy pants and socks is a very tempting thing.
The screened porch at the front of the house:
Looking through the screen to the front yard – its a pretty narrow lot.
The kitchen and secondary living space is up the steps in the background.
From the vaulted living room, the rest of the first floor feels more compressed: four steps up and a lower ceiling.
The kitchen & dining… beyond an additional living space is a back porch.
Metal table leg detail on a live edge table. It’s fun being able to look a specific details in other homes that apply to your own projects. At the time, we were looking specifically at stair rails, baseboards, and table leg details.
I really like how the cabinets surround the window.
The cooktop counter space “floats” & feels more like a piece of furniture because it stands alone – it’s not anchored to a wall on any side.
The metal backsplash lifts up to reveal shallow shelving space.
Looking back toward the front of the house. To the left, is an additional flex space.
The flex space features a murphy bed…
and a pocket track door to create a private bedroom…
The same fireplace as in the living room. I like the diagonal arrangement.
Starting back at the front door is the stairs up to the second floor.
At the top of the landing is a library. Here, you can also more easily tell that the cat-walk bridge slopes downward.
Hallway to the bedrooms with laundry station:
View of the back yard and the exterior wall of the master bedroom.
The same bathroom layout as the floor below – this time, in green & blue:
The entrance to the master bedroom that features a very integrated bathroom.
Turning around, looking back at the master bathroom.
Down the right side of the room/bathroom is a private lavatory.
Bathroom with shower beyond the vanity and the master closet on the right.
Going back down the hallway on the way back to the front of the house is another bedroom with pops of green trim:
Built-in storage in the closet.
Bedroom & hallway bathroom – just before you pass over the catwalk:
Office on the right side. Notice how the wood paneling runs from the ceiling down the wall in the interior and exterior – unifying the balcony and the room.
Balcony linking the two office spaces at the front of the house overlooking the driveway.