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Architects: Hufft Projects
- Area: 6400 ft²
- Year: 2012
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Photographs:Andrew Fabin
Baulinder Haus is located just a few houses down from a landmark Kansas City area home designed by Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer. Baulinder Haus draws inspiration from the details of the neighboring home. Vertically oriented wood siding, simple forms, and overhanging masses—these were part of Breuer’s modernist palette.
Baulinder Haus is characterized by its expansive cantilevers and bold finishes. The house’s form consists of a series of stacked boxes, with public spaces on the ground level and private spaces in the boxes above. The boxes are oriented in a U-shaped plan to create a generous private courtyard. The master suite overlooks this courtyard area, designed as an extension of the interior living space, blurring the boundaries between indoors and outdoors. Machiche and steel screening elements provide depth and texture to front facade.
Floor-to-ceiling south facing windows in the courtyard are shaded by the overhanging second floor above to prohibit solar heat gain, but allow for passive solar heating in the winter. Other sustainable elements of the home include a geothermal heat pump HVAC system, energy efficient windows and sprayed foam insulation. The exterior wood is a vertical shiplap siding milled from FSC certified Machiche. Baulinder Haus was designed to meet and exceed requirements put forward by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their Indoor airPLUS qualified homes, and is working toward Energy Star qualification.
On the interior, the warm, light tones of the kitchen are balanced by the blackened steel screen. The contrast of warm and cool materials continues throughout the house. Warm wood casework meets cool gray floor and wall tile in the master bath. Wood light boxes and countertops stand against dark mosaic wall tile in the powder room. The blackened steel of the stair rails and risers is offset by wood treads and balconies. Hufft Projects designed and fabricated the custom casework, steel screens and much of the furniture in the home.
