A house with two façades: The Masonry by stpmj Architecture

This two-family masonry house stands on a street corner. Its longitudinal façades face north and south. The orientation of the house conforms to the requirements of the urban planning office, which stipulate that the longer side of a house should face south. The slope of the roof along the longer façade is a playful gesture on the part of stpmj Architects, for it echoes the roof design of the Vanna Venturi House built by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in the 1960s.

While the house does feature two separate living spaces, the architects’ commission stated that they should treat the structure as a unified form. The completed building reveals its inner arrangement in the unique façade: the two types of diagonally layered masonry bricks on the exterior walls reflect the building’s interior spatial distribution. Stairways inside form the spines of the two respective apartments and offer an interesting experience of each space; they also create visual connections between the storeys, which are at different heights.