Collegiate Times

Margarita McGrath, professor of architecture at Virginia Tech, and her professional partner Scott Oliver will be the recipients of the American Institute of Architecture's Small Practice Program Award and the Housing Awards Program.

McGrath said the set of honors were awarded based on the knowledge of the structure and the research of knowledge implemented to improve housing and quality of life.

?The Housing Awards Program is to really try to foster architects to develop housing types that increase the quality of life for inhabitants. And also in some way contribute to the community,? she said.

The structure of Slot House, a Fort Greene neighborhood row house in Brooklyn, was designed around the preservation of a 60-foot-tall maple tree inhabiting the front yard of the house.

?We thought that place was the most important of the whole house because it became a part of the neighborhood. We thought it was important to keep that in connection with the neighborhood,? McGrath said.

By incorporating the tree into the design of the house and courtyard, McGrath had only 600 square feet to reconstruct on the main level and 400 square feet on the second floor.

?By city governing, we could build a certain amount of square footage, and go up a certain height. We decided not to do that, and to stay within the original footprint of the house,? McGrath said.

Upon investigating the site, the architects discovered complications due to the original construction and age of the house.

?We tried to take advantage of what we found. The whole design really then had to do with keeping the tree and tying in some way to keep what we found inside of the building too,? she said.

The architects then designed the structure with slots throughout the house to allow persons from inside to view the tree.

?The slot also became the place where we revealed all of the existing structure - the brick and cedar beams within the cedar frame,? McGrath said.

The original style of the house was taken into consideration when putting together the Slot House.

?Everything else we did, we tried to relate it to another move,? McGrath said.

Cedar fences and closets were made to replicate the composition and elements of the original house. Approximately three feet were added to the height of the existing structure in order to increase heat insulation during the winter.

McGrath said she believes her team was able to amplify the space of the Slot House through simple moves.

?Quite often, design awards go to works that have a particular type of aesthetic style or look. This house does not have the same kind of design vocabulary that seems to be published or publishable,? McGrath said. ?For our ideas of the house we related things to the outside of the house - so in relation to the tree outside of the house.?

The jury of the AIA was looking for projects with innovative ideas along with aesthetically appealing designs.

?In a space that small, it's hard to communicate how to make a small space seem big. We were happy that we were able to communicate to the jury what we were trying to do,? McGrath said.

McGrath said she was pleased to be the recipient of the awards and her ability to engage the community with her architecture.

?This particular project changed how I thought about architecture. It took a lot of my abstract ideas I had about architecture and made them real with how I thought about architecture and how I teach architecture,? McGrath said.