Mascia - Taylor Midtown Family Compund
The new and varied demographics of the American family, with an increasingly diverse array of structures, offer new opportunities for the program and design of the family home. While the fundamental elements of a “good house” are constituent, the family home design program can and should also be an expression of the lifestyle of the occupants.
Architect, Frank Mascia FAIA, designed this midtown compound specifically to meet the needs of his own family. Each of the residences is designed specifically for who lives there. In effect, this is a 4,000 square foot house, but one that is broken into separate pieces: 1,500 square feet for his wife, 1,000 each for himself and his father, plus another 500 square feet in covered porches.
Beyond the unique family structure, the project also responds to a modest budget, which became the inspiration for cost-aware design constructability solutions. Construction was planned for “off the shelf”, “typical” construction materials and techniques, allowing use of products available at local hardware and building supply outlets.
Another design parameter was its response to a strong, existing neighborhood fabric. This urban infill project, with the three residences on a single lot adjacent to residential properties, sits comfortably in a mature Tucson neighborhood that is dominated by small-scale masonry homes.
The compound is quietly sheltered from the street by a grove of mature native trees. Within, a courtyard of angles, colors and lush plantings is surrounded by parapeted small-scale stucco covered masonry building forms and site walls of exposed natural concrete block. The separate building elements are further distinguished from each other using the bold colors of Tucson’s barrios - chile and peppery reds, purples, and ochre.
The communal quality of the compound is created and enhanced by its strong indoor/outdoor relationship. The outdoor spaces offer opportunity for the incidental and informal connections vital to maintaining a family while the individual homes give the privacy required by those same family members. Rooms "open" onto the common outdoor space, giving the perception of larger living quarters. The angled floor plans of the buildings provide privacy for individual sitting/entertaining porches.
