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Boundaries

The shoji screen in a double-sided bookcase separates the living room and an office. It can be opened so there is a view into the living room and outside, or it can be closed for privacy.

Two bedrooms, on opposite sides of the house, open to adjacent offices that open to outdoor space. Not to sacrifice square footage for a hallway, pocket door openings are lined up so that you can pass through rooms. Depending on how the homeowner wants to use them, the bedrooms and offices can serve as public or private rooms. Pieces of furniture also are used to define spaces.

Exterior spaces

The concrete flooring from the home's interior continues to the outside, forming the walk under the trellis, flooring for the screened porch and the patio off the dining room. "You have a sense of the materials in the house continuing outside," Govan said. "It kind of connects the in and out."

The trellis is on the south side of the house outside a wall of south-facing windows in place for solar gain. Because in the summer it can get really hot, white wisteria was planted to shade the walk and the house's interior. In the winter when the wisteria dies back, the sun comes in. The grounds are carefully landscaped with several usable outdoor "rooms."

Architect's aim

Approaching the unpretentious house, you see pitched roofs with substantial overhangs, traditional lap-siding with corner boards, muted colors and materials that won't need much upkeep and will age with dignity. The look is reminiscent of elements, materials and details gleaned from farm houses or older country homes that might be found in the surrounding landscape. There's no intent to shove an elitist aesthetic nor an unadulterated historical replica into anybody's face. Externally, this house speaks about practicality, site-specificity and substance.

Govan said: "My goal was to open up the house to the outside, making the house that was small not feel small to use. I wanted it to have a certain simplicity and modesty to its design. The homeowners wanted a Japanese aesthetic combined with a North Carolina vernacular. We actually looked at an old tobacco barn in Pittsboro as a model for the house" and combined it with a Japanese element, marrying the two."

Interior

The kitchen, dining and living areas open onto outdoor terraces and a screened porch. "Depending on the season, exterior doors can be thrown open and outdoor spaces become continuous with indoor ones," Govan said. While the ideas in this home are commonly associated with modern architecture and its notions of abstract, minimalist and bareness, the spatial strategies expressed here are simply a way to give the clients more for their money. The intent is to make everyday life in the house more enjoyable. The homeowners can experience the things that matter to them -- the season changes, the weather and the light conditions outside.

Cost cutters

* A bank of windows on the south side of the house for solar heating.

* Concrete flooring forms a thermal mass for the passive solar house. Under the concrete is 4 feet of gravel, which also helps as a thermal mass. The concrete also is easy to clean.

* Laminate countertops with wood trim are simple, inexpensive with a natural feel. The same is true for the Southern yellow pine trim throughout.

* Opening the house to the outside, where indoor activities can spill outdoors, adds a lot of value without a lot of investment.

* 8-foot ceilings. "Many people would shudder at the thought," Govan said. But, by surrounding the 8-foot ceiling in places with a 7-foot ceiling gives the illusion that the 8-foot ceilings are higher. A 7-foot ceiling over the entry forms a perimeter shelf, like a soffit, around the living and dining rooms. When you step into the 8-foot ceiling area it feels much higher, Govan said.

* Walls were thickened to provide storage.

* Pocket doors, open shelves and using every ounce of space. "Under the stairs, shelves on one side hold linen and on the other side hold music equipment for one of the home's two offices." A stacked washer and dryer also are tucked under the stairs, making an extra-wide hallway double as a laundry room.

Home & Garden Weta Ray Clark contributed to this report

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