NEW CONSTRUCTION / HONOR

5550 McKinley House, Omaha, NE

Owner: Randy Brown
Firm: Randy Brown Architects
Photographer: Randy Brown Architects

A young couple with 2 children bought an old farmhouse and 10 acres of property.   The couple decided to move in to the house and phase construction projects.   The intention is for the project is to be a laboratory for architectural experiments.   The hope is for the house to never be finished. The first phase was to clean up the surrounding landscape and create outdoor play areas which were completed a year ago. Phase 2 construction on a 3,000 SF living sleeping vessel has reached substantial completion. The design is exploring ways to intertwine the man made with natural.   The intention is to create a house that is so connected with the land that it is simultaneously natural and man made. To achieve this state, the land has been sculpted into different platforms with manmade geometries.   A mowed grass lawn in the shape of a folded line runs throughout the site, acting as the string to tie the project together. Natural materials such as recycled barn wood and rusted steel will be used with grass roof gardens and limestone gabion walls. The house becomes a series of spaces integrated with the land.