Upper Arlington, Ohio
Narrow-Lot Residence
A new house on a narrow Upper Arlington lot, designed for the long term with a side-entry three-car garage and space reserved for a future lift.
The project
The Narrow-Lot Residence is a new long-term home in Upper Arlington, Ohio. The design turns the three-car garage sideways so the street sees a house instead of doors, keeps the backyard open, and reserves space for a future lift.
A three-car garage on a narrow lot
Three cars on a narrow Upper Arlington lot usually leave two poor options. A front-facing garage puts a row of doors at the street and makes them the first thing anyone sees. A garage at the back of the lot takes the yard, and the backyard here is where the owners plan to entertain friends and guests.
The design keeps the garage at the front of the house and rotates it. The doors face the side, the driveway turns in to meet them, and the rear yard stays whole.
The garage turns aside.
The street sees a house.
A side-entry garage that reads as house
Turning the doors was half the move. The other half was the massing. The garage is shaped as part of the house, so from the street its side wall reads as another wing of the home rather than a garage block pushed to the front. The house is larger than it looks, at 5,094 square feet, and the calm street face is part of the reason.
The trade-off is driveway. A side entry needs more paving than a garage that parks straight in from the curb, which is one reason front-facing garages are so common. Arcfluence avoids setting garage doors curbside whenever the site and the client allow another answer. On this lot, the extra driveway buys a quieter street front and an intact backyard.
Reserving space for a future lift
Designing for the long term means planning for needs that may change. The plan reserves an elevator shaft for a future lift, allowing for another way to move between floors as the owners' needs change.
An office and flexible rooms give the plan more slack. They can change use as the household does, without a renovation. These are the decisions that cost least when they are made early, while the plan and structure are still on paper.
A basement planned for living
The basement is designed as part of the house, not as leftover space around the mechanical equipment. Lower-level bedrooms are planned with large egress windows to provide a way out and bring in daylight. The rooms downstairs are meant to be as usable as the rooms above them.
Room above the garage for a future apartment
The room over the garage is planned as a home gym, with rough-ins that allow for a future apartment. The owners can use it as a gym first and keep a second use open for later.