Stair Woning by William Price is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award in IJzer in Architectuur, Gebouwen en Constructieontwerp Competition Category.

IJzerArchitectuur· 2023

Stair Woning

by William Price

Client: Billl Price

A' Design Award in IJzer Winner in Architectuur Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #137738

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

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The Design

About Stair Woning

Dit project daagt de status quo van woonontwerp uit en benadrukt de integratie van ecologische en culturele duurzaamheid in de kernprincipes. Door de herinterpretatie van een bestaande typologie verlegt het de grenzen van wat mogelijk is binnen een smalle stedelijke invulkavel. Het gebruik van duurzame materialen, diepe plantenbakken als leuningen en overdekte buitenpatio's stimuleert de verbinding met de natuur en kruisventilatie. De woning is een reflectie van hoe de relatie met de natuur en met elkaar evolueert in de context van stedelijk wonen.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in IJzer

Stair Woning is winnaar van de A' Design Award in IJzer, een prestigieuze erkenning die wordt toegekend aan goede ontwerpen die voldoen aan de professionele en industriële eisen die worden verwacht van goed ontworpen creaties. Winnaars in IJzer tonen grote vaardigheid, hoge specialisatie, deskundig inzicht en het creatieve vermogen van hun makers. Stair Woning wordt verwacht een hooggewaardeerde, bewonderde en gekoesterde creatie te zijn die praktisch en innovatief is. Dit ontwerp dat de A' Design Award in IJzer heeft gewonnen, integreert de beste praktijken uit de sector en heeft bekwame technische kenmerken die verbonden zijn met knowhow en talent. Stair Woning wordt gerespecteerd om zijn grondigheid en is ontworpen om verbeteringen van de levenskwaliteit te bieden die helpen de wereld een betere plek te maken.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: The project challenges the limited ways of thinking about residential design today as it relates to environmentally and culturally sustainable solutions. Under the umbrella of cultural and environmental sustainability, the house attempts to reinterpret an existing typology and provoke thought regarding how our relationship with nature and living with one another will evolve as we live longer in cities.
Dimensions & Packaging: This 3-story 3000 sq ft house sits on a 30ft by 100ft lot. The structure has wood framing and steel moment frames, and the walls are 30% recycled corrugated galvalume with insulated operable windows. The roof is waterproofed with TPO and has rigid and batt insulation. Outdoor patios have deep planter guard rails, and 3 types of stairs provide vertical circulation: circular, kick back, and tapered straight-run.
Tags: Nature, Green, House, Stair, Typology, Metal
Production Technology: The project is conceived as two volumes stacked atop one another. Each is made accessible to the other using three types of stairs. A tapered straight-run stair takes you from the street to the second level, a spiral stair takes you from the ground floor courtyard to the roof and a kickback stair takes you from the ground floor to the third floor. The lower volume is enclosed, released, and partitioned by a series of transparent and opaque walls. They move from the interior to the exterior, where they hold and gather nature, making it available to the interior.
Design Challenge: The creative challenge of the project centered around providing a comfortable living space with an emphasis on outdoor living, nature, air, and sunlight, all within the constraints of a narrow urban infill lot in Downtown, Houston Texas. The design incorporated open floor plans and large elevations of glass to maximize natural light. The three levels of the house feature covered outdoor patios, operable windows, and planter guard rails to promote cross-ventilation and a connection to nature. The use of deep planters on the patios added a lush, green element to the outdoor spaces and created a sense of privacy and intimacy.
Research: The Project attempts to bring together the best of the Dog Trot and Spanish Colonial houses while in essence bypassing their limitations. It is a living space that seizes upon the positive attributes of typology radically modified in light of the overriding and timely concerns of our time.
Inspiration: The Stair House draws inspiration from the traditional Dog Trot Houses located in the southern United States. The incorporation of breezeways in these houses promoted the circulation of air, which has been adapted into the Stair House design, both horizontally and vertically. Furthermore, the project takes inspiration from Spanish Colonial houses in the south that utilize porches to provide deep shade, protection from rain, and stairs to mitigate the challenges of second-floor living and being elevated off the ground.
Project Duration: The project started in January 2014 and finished in July 2018. Stair House is in the Lower Heights neighborhood of Downtown Houston, Texas. It is situated to the south of the White Oak Bayou and to the north of the rail line to Chaney Junction. Contextually the site is bound by the edge of an industrial zone to the south and the Olivewood Cemetery to the East with two and three-story residential development to the west. The Olivewood Cemetery marks where the First and Sixth Wards meet. It is a resting place for freed slaves and is the first African American cemetery in the Houston city limits.
Image Credits: image #1: courtesy of Bill Price and Photographer Ben Hill, editing by Alan Jauregui, 2022
image #2: courtesy of Bill Price and Photographer, 2022
image #3: courtesy of Bill Price and Photographer, 2022
image #4: courtesy of Bill Price and Photographer, 2022
image #5: courtesy of Photogrpaher Bill Price, 2021