Split Box House by DiG Architects in Atlanta, Georgia

Project: Split Box House
Architects: DiG Architects
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Area: 579 m²
Photography: Alexander Herring

Split Box House by DiG Architects

DiG Architects designed the Split Box House for a busy couple and their three children. This remarkable modern home is located near Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The minimalist interior of the Split Box House, with an area of just over 6000 square feet, opens up to a beautifully landscaped area around the building.

The Split Box House for a busy couple and their three children is located near Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. The client wanted a house that would be a quiet and restrained sanctuary from the overly noisy digital world, which too strongly stimulates their daily lives and serves as a reaction to surrounding boring house projects, each one being louder and more spectacular than the previous one.

The simple and clean-form house began as a twenty-two-foot wide box. This width was chosen based on the distance that can be spanned by a reasonable-sized wooden beam. It ensured no interior load-bearing walls, allowing for a simple open floor plan. The main exterior finishing materials of the box are low-maintenance grey cement panels. Panels attached as an open-gap system with ventilated soffits help manage moisture infiltration and reduce energy consumption.

The box was cut to length according to the family's space requirements, then divided into public and private volumes, clearly distinguishing functions. The private section turns ninety degrees around a light corridor to maximize views of the tranquil forest behind the house. Accompanying warm ipe wood, reminiscent of soft interior finishes, covers the cuts. Exposed roofs are covered with vegetation to reduce stormwater runoff, soften energy consumption, and improve air quality. Private functions include bedrooms on the upper floor and a guest house on the main level, connected through a covered breezeway that creates an open room with views of the forest and access to both main and guest house entrances.

Public functions pass through a series of low and high spaces, resulting in double height with skylights. Light wells provide changing patterns of light throughout the day and can be opened for passive cooling during warm months. Six light wells and low-E windows allow the use of natural light instead of artificial lighting, reducing home energy consumption. On one side they are adorned with cabinets that provide storage, TV center placement, fireplace, dining buffet, refrigerator and freezer, allowing public functions to remain open, clean, and uncluttered.

Quiet interiors create a soothing calm atmosphere where the main focus is space and views outward. A series of enclosing walls, carefully laid on a steep site, descending from 42 feet at the front to the back of the lot, form a terraced entrance garden that becomes an exhibition foundation for the house. Long grass suitable for the climate enhances the simple geometric forms of the house with its naturally calming sway and unifies engineering slopes that soften the level difference on the site. A well-maintained lawn near a group of trees transitions into the constantly changing natural beauty of the forest behind.

–DiG Architects