Outerbridge Horsey Associates, PLLC

The project is the addition of a greenhouse to an existing home.

The design of the greenhouse in plan and section echoes and reinforces the simplicity of forms of the main house. Its transparency and primary materials of glass and steel offer a counterpoint to the opaque nature of the masonry and wood of the main house, while the stone walls serve as a common element tying the two together.

The room is used as a fully functioning greenhouse for temperate plants, therefore containing the necessary heating, cooling and ventilating equipment as well as plant benches. During the spring and fall the room also serves as an adjunct living space.

The construction materials consist of an exposed aggregate concrete slab (with trench drains), stone walls on the north and south sides, and an interior steel skeleton supporting a suspended glass system with silicone butt joints. The heating system consists of triple fin-tubes on the north and south walls; the ventilating units (two intake louvers and two exhaust louvers), located in the corners, allow for a two-stage, cross-flow ventilation and evaporative cooling system.