Gator House, Pointe Coupee Real Estate, Louisiana Home, USA Residence Renovation, American Architecture Photos
Gator House in Pointe Coupee
July 6, 2022
Design: emerymcclure architecture
Location: Ventress, Louisiana, United States

Photos: James Osborne IV
Gator House, Louisiana
Historically, buildings in southern Louisiana were forced to employ every manner of passive systems to mediate their physical environment to the greatest extent possible. In the modern era, most buildings in this wet, hot, humid, and often volatile climate seek to resist the extreme conditions by creating a presumed impenetrable barrier. The Gator House resists the false choices of historical vs. modern, man vs. nature, active vs. passive, and celebrates the complex interaction of the built, natural, and cultural systems of southern Louisiana.
The Gator house is a camp, a southern Louisiana vacation home.? Traditionally, the camp typology functioned as a hunting and fishing retreat; minimal, low energy, a little rough, and occupied episodically according to season. Once a rustic shed for storing fishing and hunting gear, it has become a coveted gathering place for families and friends to enjoy the outdoors – camps are part fish cleaning station, part summer home.?

There is no distinct camp typology, though historically, they took the form of hybrid traditional typologies: dogtrots, shotguns, creole cottages.? They commonly privilege the liminal and public spaces; porches, patios, decks.

G...