The Hungry Neck Residence accommodates the variety of activities in which the homeowners engage by providing spaces that are fundamentally different yet connected. Interests ranging from cooking and entertaining to music and writing lead to a design centered around a circulation volume filled with light.  The central space includes the kitchen and connects the open gathering space to the private realm of the upstairs office and bedrooms. The master bedroom balcony overlooks a hundred year old oak tree and the garden below, while the office provides an escape from the activity of the main living space but maintains a visual connection to the street and the neighborhood. Deep overhangs and natural ventilation offer low-tech vernacular strategies to condition the house, supplemented by geothermal wells and an underground water cistern used for laundry and other non-potable uses. The material palette is subtle and simply detailed; minimal steel handrails relate to the kitchen hood without competing with it, leaving the central, pivotal space as uncluttered as possible in order to make room for people to gather. The Hungry Neck Residence reflects its owners at all scales, while responsibly engaging the world in which it operates; it serves as a reminder that successful design is, first and foremost, an exercise in philanthropy. 
© Richard Leo Johnson

Architects: The Raleigh Architecture Company

Location: Raleigh, NC, USA

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