Filmer Residence

Filmer Residence, Cleveland, OH
private residence - built

Project Designer + Renderings
Horton Harper Architects
Fall 2021 - Fall 2022

// Situated in the historic Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, The Filmer Residence is a new single-family home. An urban infill lot with rear lot access, the house is envisioned as three connecting pyramidal tent-like forms, capped with an oculus at the peak. Central to the design of the house was the idea of “aging in place”, providing a place where the elderly owners can live free from the challenges of multi-level living at an advanced age. Connected to the three black cedar-clad primitives is a slender tower acting as the point of entry. Upon entering, the eye is drawn upwards to the ceiling oculus, framing the sky in a moment akin to that of artist James Turrell’s skyscape installations. Outdoor recreational space is provided by that fenced courtyard space in lieu of a traditional yard, inspired by the enclosed walled gardens of Japan, it offers a secluded space for relaxation and meditation. Externally the house resembles that of a typical suburban ranch house, however through the use of black as the overall defining color as well as a vertical reinterpretation of ordinary board siding it acts instead as a “negative” set amongst the “normal” mid-western typology of white clapboard homes.

team: Michael Horton (lead author)

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