Split Level House / Qb Design

© Todd Mason / Barry Halkin Photography

Architects: Qb Design
Location: , USA
General Contractor: McCoubrey Overholser, Inc.
Stair Fabrication: Bill Curran Design
Cabinetry: James Van Etten
Green Roof: David Brothers
Structural Engineer: The Kachele Group
Project Area: 279 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Todd Mason / Barry Halkin Photography

floor plans
© Todd Mason / Barry Halkin Photography

Sited on a vacant corner in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, this house for a growing family stitches itself into the neighborhood by responding to local cues. Curved corners negotiate the irregular street grid, while the cadence of typical rowhouses and a palette of volumes and stone bases are translated into a new vocabulary.

© Todd Mason / Barry Halkin Photography
Cite: "Split Level House / Qb Design" 03 Feb 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 26 May 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/48308>

29 comments

  1. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    Beautiful home, glad to see it’s in the U.S., wasn’t expecting Philadelphia when I first saw the picture.

    I wish it didn’t look like a Design Within Reach showroom, though. Seriously, is there anything from the catalog they didn’t buy?

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  3. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    not much to say: it’s just that I love this realisation !! (didnt watch closely but pictures are so nice !)

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  4. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    This is an exquisite example of an urban dwelling – especially impressive is the flow and movement within a limited site.

    Great work.

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  10. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    I like that there is a sense of grand entry procession (you know for sure how you enter the home) as well as intimate scale. It is also quite urban in the way it opens up to and participates with the streetscape. but there is still a vertical spatial sequence that brings you to more private realms on the upper floors and roof deck…

    and the materials are contextual in just the right innovative ways…I can think of many contemporary japanese homes that I love which suffer from to much inward focus and not enough consideration of contextuality in their material composition. but I wouldn’t have thought of it without seeing this design…great conversation piece.

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  11. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    This comes from less of a designer perspective, but I think the house just looks fun. Well done.

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  22. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    All I can say is- “The house that too FOREVER to build.” Nice to finally see a finished product and not that yellow.

    Reply

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