Architecture | New Construction | Residential - Single Family
Carrboro, North Carolina
completion: 2022
AWARDS
Carrboro Hillside House Receives a 2022 Matsumoto Prize
PUBLICATIONS
GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN, November 17, 2021 : “How Hillside House Thrives in the Face of Challenging Terrain”
INHABITAT.COM, October 21, 2021 : “Carrboro Hillside House looks like a giant black snake.”
DURHAM MAGAZINE, May 7, 2020 : “How We Live Now – Personal Experiences During Quarantine”
Chapel Hill Magazine January /February, 2021 : Labor of Love
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL : “For These Unique Homes, Being the Odd One Out Has Its Ups and Downs” 2020
Project Description
The project is a new 2200-square-foot home for pod a+d’s partners in work and life, Youn Choi and Doug Pierson, and their two children. Their 1.2-acre lot is in a 12-acre preserved wooded area adjacent to a flood plain with a year-round 100-foot creek setback, an oddly shaped buildable area, a steep hillside, and dense forest coverage. The homeowners honored their challenging property by letting it suggest the house’s modern, minimal form. Composed of clean, clear lines and a refined material palette (black corrugated metal, glass, and polished concrete block), the architectural profile reflects the natural topography as it rises and twists its way up from the lowest creek-side level to the height of the hill. In the process, the form also reflects the spatial journey inside. Committed to building the house as sustainably as possible, Choi and Pierson reused every Southern yellow pine tree that had to be removed by having them milled locally and returned to the site as cabinetry, casework, and flooring. Dramatic glazing frames views of the natural setting and allows natural light to flood the interior.
Credits
Owners: Doug Pierson and Youn Choi
Architecture & Interiors: Doug Pierson, AIA, and Youn Choi, pod architecture + design, Carrboro, NC
Barbora Ngaboyamahina, project associate
Dougald Fountain, project associate
Photography: pod architecture + design, Allen Weiss & Cornel Watson for Chapel Hill Magazine