Design Solution: Synapse House encourages “open domestic interactions,” as the architects contend, through its star-shaped floor plan—“like a neural network, with several branches spreading out from a central nucleus.” Interconnected halls, illuminated at their juncture from above via skylights, reach out into the landscape as a kind of architectural synapse.

Photo © Javier Orive

A pathway through a dry garden leads the residents and their guests toward an entrance porch, tucked underneath the roof of one branch. As an open threshold, this covered space connects the street-facing garden with a more private one at the house’s rear, where the swimming pool is also located. Two L-shaped volumes, built of wood, have been inserted inside to accommodate storage closets, bathrooms, and the kitchen cabinetry. And the shared social spaces—the living and dining area—radiate from the main hall in a V-shaped configuration that enables differing views outside. The house’s organization enables unexpected transitions between the indoors and out, public and private.

Structure and Materials: Synapse House primarily comprises three materials—wood, in storage elements and window frames; concrete, used in the structural shell and flooring; and glass. The shell system consists of a 4¾ inch insulating core with an electro-welded galvanized-steel mesh on each side and a 1½ inch, poured-in-place concrete on either face. This structural envelope is acoustically and thermally insulated with a total thickness of less than 8 inches.

Additional Information
Completion date: February 2023
Site size: 0.2 acres
Total construction cost: $478,000
Client/Owner: Withheld

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Photos © Javier Orive

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Images courtesy Baum Lab; click to enlarge