Architect: Moto Designshop
Neighborhood: Graduate Hospital
Project Type: New Construction
Square Footage: 4,800
Photography: Halkin Mason Photography

Filigree House is a private residence in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood of Philadelphia. Originally envisioned as a spec home, the project's design enamored the developer to ultimately retain the property as a permanent home for him and his family. 

Sited on a double-wide lot, a rarity in Philadelphia, Filigree House questions the value and purpose of urban brick facades to investigate a new potential for aesthetic design and human engagement. A four-layer red brick screen, each with a different compositional pattern, tests the material’s capacity to celebrate contradictions: transparency and shadows, privacy and openness, delicacy and weighted permanence. The building sneaks up on passersby midblock and challenges the preconceived limits of brick construction in adjacent buildings.

The interior of the home is anchored by a large steel and white oak helical stair with garden planters below which are all visible through framed views in the screen, all while allowing views into and through the first floor. A custom kitchen and white oak millwork provide touches of craft that support the family’s urban lifestyle. The effect of the facade is transformative throughout the day. The continuous play of natural light along and through the screen, allows the façade to continuously transform over time. Playful geometric cuts in the screen frame views of the neighborhood, while at night, the interior glow of the house reverses the screen's presence and role to one that frames and highlights the home's interior spaces.

Sustainability measures beyond basic code
This building was designed to last 75-100 years and be a meaningful contribution to the city’s crumbling urban fabric which has been suffering devastating losses to its historical building stock through continued demolition. From the client’s perspective, brick has been an important material that represents longevity and permanence. As designers, the use of brick represented yet another opportunity to celebrate a common, timeless, and accessible material as the basis for true modern design. Building new in vernacular masonry commits to that permanence, as neighboring masonry rowhomes have done since the late 1800’s. Philadelphia is a city crafted in brick. By selecting a “native” material (red brick), a staple of the row house vernacular in Philadelphia, the design respected the existing fabric while also challenging the surrounding context. The resultant effect is a home that is both visually engaging but also fits into the neighborhood. It is both contemporary and contextual while committing to the livelihood of talented local masons and supply chains.

Designing for a sustainable future needs to capture more than just the technical data of achieving high energy performance and insulation values, all of which was done here to levels above code. It must also address the intangibles which are much harder to define. These qualities are immeasurable, but we see and feel them every day as we interact with our most beloved neighborhoods, buildings, roads, parks, and places. The greatest responsibility an architect has is to implement their talents to create buildings that deeply engage our native humanistic qualities on an emotional level. Only this connection will cause a building to be loved and cared for by future generations of occupants over a great lifespan. 

At Filigree House, triple-pane casement windows provide superior thermal protection. Exterior insulation moves the dew point outside the building envelope. A highly insulated concrete slab and foundation walls maintain a high-quality thermal break from changing ground temperatures. Thickened roof insulation and reflective roof membranes provide reductions to urban heat island effect. Low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce water consumption and demand on city sewer infrastructure. MERV13 air filtration provides high-quality breathability to inhabitants and interior planted greenery recycles CO2 providing improved air quality. 

But none of this is going to be why this owner lives in this house for the next 40 years, or why an eventual new buyer will desire this home securing its future even further. Those things will happen because of the design risks that were taken, spatial planning challenges overcome, and the execution of ideas that engage and challenge neighbors and the owner alike. These ideas, these aesthetics, and these architectural details are what architecture must always strive to do and to be. Create the most with the available and you will achieve the full meaning of sustainability.