Location: Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
Year of construction: 1996
Builder: G. Viqner & P. Radis
Architect: Peter Waldman
Associates: John Fitzerald
Photography: Peter Waldman
Located in a wood near Charlottesville (Virginia), this house is the home of architect Peter Waldman, who also designed it and teaches at the nearby University. The lack of a client to consult gave him a different relationship with the project.
Not far from the site is a clear precedent for the Waldman House: Monticello, a project started by father of the American constitution. President, and architect Thomas Jefferson. Work on the house still continues after two hundred years.
In some ways, in a case such as this, the house becomes a full-scale working model, a prototype.
As a result, some of the houses that architects have built for themselves (like Robert Stern’s house for his mother, the Hedjuk House, and the Gehry House) have played a leading role in many of the esthetic revolutions of recent years.
This experimental vocation gives the project an experimental aspect. This may seem obvious, but in fact it is not, because insofar as it is considered to be a trial exercise, a working instrument or a form of study, the end result is subject to a different type of judgement.
In the Waldman House everything has a sense of the dramatic. But what changes your perception of the spaces is Peter Waldman’s collection of unusual objects: unclassifiable machines that seem to originate in some proto-industrial era, eclectic
furniture acquired from antique stores, puppets, . ,
… . . . . The large picture windows in che elevations race
and disturbing miniatures. , . . , . .
° east and west, giving fine views of sunrise and
sunset from the interior. The surrounding trees create an excellent natural sun filter.
One of the more unusual elements is the roof skylight, constructed from translucent fabric.
|
The conical skylight is 10 ft (3 m) high with a diameter at the base of 6’/i ft (2 m). The objects in the house have been specially chosen to create a dramatic, theatrical effect. The balustrades, radiators, pipes, and lamps appear to date from the early 20th century. |