BAU_Butzer Architects and Urbanism

Designed in the late 1940s with inspiration clearly drawn from Bruce Goff’s arrival at the University of Oklahoma in Norman and a local resurgence of Wright-ian architectural tendencies, the original house had become overgrown and overwhelmed by decades of layered modifications.

The new design created a more neighborly home by repositioning the front door to face the street, highlighting the entrance with standing seam copper panels, and articulating a direct path from the street to the front door. At the start of the project, the master bathroom, whose south wall serves as the homes primary street frontage, did not have windows. This awkward relationship was reconciled with a mediating, screened garden that softens the home’s street presence and opens the master bathroom to the outdoors without sacrificing privacy.

The interior circulation wraps around the inside edge of the L-shaped plan, allowing occupants to consistently reference the front yard and opposing wing of the home as they move throughout. Eliminating partition walls in the public spaces and inserting an all-glass north facing façade effectively dissolved the division between the home and its beautiful backyard.