Fort 137 Residence / Daniel Joseph Chenin

Textual content description supplied by the architects. Commissioned for a household embracing an lively way of life of immersive environmental experiences, the agency was tasked with creating a house that might be up to date and heat, but seamlessly blended into the rugged fantastic thing about its pure environment. Along with an inside program that included a main suite, a secondary suite, three further bedrooms, and a big communal residing and eating area, the 15-month construct prioritized an exterior focus that features an entry rotunda, a shaded courtyard, and a view body overlooking the encircling panorama.

Fort 137’s entry rotunda characterizes the agency’s experiential strategy, with a contemporary interpretation paying homage to the outdated fort constructions of early settlements that after dotted the desert panorama of the Las Vegas Valley. The rotunda, rising 28 toes, serves as a transition between the exterior desert warmth and the cooler inside, with a conical form that contrasts with the straight strains of the residing areas. Upon getting into the rotunda, the sound of working water from the decrease stage’s stone fountain transitions mindsets from the arid desert warmth to considered one of a cooling desert mirage, and a winding staircase supplies entry to a rooftop lounge outfitted with a firepit and expansive desert views.

After a cool respite, the rotunda ushers you again into the desert local weather of an inner courtyard that transitions throughout the blurred strains that mix the house into its surrounding pure setting. The transition from the exterior desert to the house’s inside begins with a fully-enclosed, shaded courtyard space that’s splendid for household meals and gatherings, set towards a backdrop that features a 75-ton boulder that was excavated from the positioning. Inside the house, two dually-purposed flanking partitions run from north to south, offering safety towards exterior parts, whereas additionally defining the boundaries of the format. Between the partitions, gathering areas embrace a big lounge space and eating room, a kitchen, an workplace, and a theater room, whereas extra intimate areas, together with the bedrooms, are positioned on the outer sides of the partitions.

The residing areas of Fort 137 are specified by three complementary volumes, every designed to maximise consolation, effectivity, and ambiance. Inside a metal body and stone partitions, sliding glass panel partitions, 38 toes lengthy by 13 toes excessive, present panoramic views from each the north and south facades. The glass partitions additionally serve a number of functions and are positioned to offer cross-ventilation and to attract ample daylight into an inside designed with angular precision to supply safety towards the harshest occurrences of the desert solar and wind.

The central stream of the inside’s open residing and eating space provides option to an adjoining sub-set of extra intimate and personal zones, together with bedrooms and servicing areas. Every area, from its orientation to its comforts, is designed for tranquil moments alone, or for quiet moments spent with friends. The modest luxurious of the fashionable inside is framed by travertine flooring, stucco ceilings, and reconstituted wooden veneer vertical panels, offering a heat embrace for the curated furnishings and artwork picks of Daniel Joseph Chenin. Stone, wooden, and brass particulars are ample, together with within the inside’s customized door handles and detailed cabinetry.

Along with hitting its mark as an built-in oasis of consolation and serenity within the desert valley, Fort 137 was constructed with restricted environmental impacts. Daniel Joseph Chenin integrated quite a few design methods into the undertaking to offset the house’s carbon footprint and cut back its dependence on the grid, together with a photovoltaic panel infrastructure and ballast roofing that complement different design parts together with passive cooling, thermal mass, and radiant heating. Different sustainable concerns embrace a reconstituted wooden veneer derived from the biproduct and waste of a sawmill, in addition to locally-sourced supplies, and constructively repurposed rocks and earth extracted from the constructing web site. Moreover, supplies together with weathered metal, sizzling rolled metal, and travertine had been procured for his or her potential to age and patina with the desert sands of time, including additional shade and textures to a constructed setting destined to combine even deeper into its pure environment.