19th Avenue Townhouses
Design 2011

The program for the 19th Avenue project was to create a series of live.work retail townhouses with retail frontages within a two-story envelope to minimize the impact upon the neighboring property. The site is a narrow lot at the corner of a residential street and a commercial thoroughfare. Often this typology fails in its ability to provide either adequately open retail space or adequately protected living space. These townhouses use a slipped section and a central screened stair to provide a visual connection between all interior spaces, but also to discretely shield the private spaces. The spatial sequence moves from fully public ground floor space to a fully private rooftop garden that provides both fresh air and light to the center of each townhouse. The townhouses are arrayed as a simple series; the particular site is recognized by lifting the corner unit up to provide fully open retail space to both frontages.