House Design and The Fireplace

The fireplace is a symbolic part of a residence. The design of the fireplace expresses feelings, values, ideas and emotions: in the same way that the house design expresses these things- but the fireplace is a concentrated expression, it has greater intensity and more intimacy than the whole house.
The house in this photo replaced a small cottage with a big screened porch. Our client spent many summers there with her family, and most of their time seemed to be spent on that porch with its view of the water. When we designed a new house for the site, we started with the screened porch. At one corner of the porch we placed two fireplaces - one inside and one outside. Four large custom glass doors slide into a pocket between these two fireplaces, completely opening up the house to the porch on beautiful summer days. In this way, the whole house becomes part of the porch, and this idea is furthered through the design of the fireplaces.