Monroe House

This is a house for a large extended family of New Orleans “Expats” living in Monroe, LA.  The property is on a large rural lot that was intentionally selected for its remote location.  Although the site is very remote and rural, the owners wanted to keep yard maintenance and gardening to a minimum.  This is where the strategy for rain-scaping around the home was developed. The home is surrounded along it’s base on three sides by a 3 – 4-foot landscaped, sloped berm mean to collect and redistribute rainwater from a very large roof area to a variety of low-maintenance plant life intended to keep the soil in tack.  Part of the rational for the berm is to make the home feel isolated and protected and strongly rooted in the front and along the sides while (by juxtaposition) feeling more open to a larger more private view of the expansive rear yard (in the back).  The intentional selection of minimal maintenance vegetation is used as a design feature in lieu of a typical set of hedges and grass which required weekly maintenance.  The home is designed so that spaces that can be both formal and/or informal and transform meaning an appearance from day to night.  The entry is a three-story projection from the main massing of the house that makes both the vertical and main horizontal circulation of the layout apparent on the façade.  There is a reflection pool and a tall brick screen wall that when back lit at night appears as a beacon in the landscape and make (semi-) transparent a three-story circular stair as the vertical spine that ties two interior floors and a third-floor roof deck (situated for sweeping views).  The pool in the rear is partially covered by a 2nd floor deck and insect screen where views from the space are expansive but does not appear as a “fishbowl” to the surrounding landscape.