HTSL-K House
June 2018 to Present | Hudson, Massachusetts
Design Team: Mark J. Terra-Salomão, Amanda M. Louro, Samuel Kurzontkowski, Candace Ju, Garrett Rauck
Construction Team: Mark J. Terra-Salomão, Adam J. Cabral, Amanda M. Louro, Samuel Kurzontkowski, Andrew “Andy” Kurzontkowski, Curt Kurzontkowski, Claudinor O. Salomão, Jeffrey A. Terra-Salomão, Candace Ju, Garrett Rauck
Contractors: Azores Concrete (basement reinforcing), Nuno Ferreira (exterior painting), Mass Bay Wildlife Management, Inc. (chimney cap and wildlife exclusion)
Vendors: Vsons Design (mailbox)
HTSL-K House is a design-build project carried out on my own home. Like many naïve architects and designers before me, I desired to understand how things are actually built, and I wanted to improve my home on a tiny budget. As the process evolves I’m realizing there’s a lot to learn about even basic residential construction, and as with most things in life construction is best taken on as a collective endeavor. I’ve also gained a new appreciation for the designers and thinkers I admire most and even for those I previously didn’t, from Brian Mackay-Lyons to Anne Tyng to Frank Gehry. They learned by doing, and so should I.
I am extensively documenting the construction process. This benefits my design thinking and eases future redesign and renovation, as during construction we photograph all structure and utilities before putting finish materials over them. The work of John Folan / UDBS and the writing of Stewart Brand inspired me to undertake this exhaustive documentation.
Part of my documentation includes historic research about the house, its builders and occupants, and the sociocultural and architectural context in which it was built.
A certain Patrick Harrington first built HTSL-K House in the springs of 1916 and 1917, based on deed research and artifacts found in the house during demolition. The most telling artifact was a receipt from the milkman George L. Brooks made out to Harrington and dated May 31, 1917. I found this receipt used as a shim for trimwork around the kitchen windows. What Harrington did with 32 quarts (8 gallons) of milk in an age before widespread refrigeration I can only imagine! Hopefully he was buying on credit and got the receipt for paying off his balance.