Drawing on Aldo Rossi’s ideas of the urban artifact, Split House directly responds to Our Lady of the Angels Parish Church in Lower Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, a central architectural figure in the neighborhood. Additionally, this house relates the “exterior room” that each house on the site works to create. Because of its unique position on the site, the house is split to achieve both, with one side relating to the shared common space and the other relating to the neighborhood.
The side with the relationship to the exterior room is of wood frame construction in order to create a sense of transparency both internally and to its immediate surroundings. This is in opposition to the part of the house that is about the neighborhood, which is made of concrete masonry. This, more private portion works to give a sense of compression and choreograph views to the greater neighborhood. This dwelling is intended to house two, co-living families.
photo by Meghan Pisarcik and Angela Castellano
