Flint Hills Residence

Construction Documents are nearing completion for a residence we’re designing in the Flint Hills, a few miles outside of Alma, Kansas. We’re excited to see the project’s initial vision become translated down to tangible details and connections. Everything is falling into place.

Flint Hills insiders refer to Alma as the “City of Native Stone”–and we can see why. Driving around the countryside near Alma, you’ll pass miles of stacked limestone walls lining fields and grassland. Limestone also features prominently in the town’s architecture. A number of historic buildings downtown are made of stone, including City Hall and the Alma Hotel, a site being explored by our 5th year Kansas State University graduate architecture studio.

We plan to use native limestone in the Flint Hills Residence as well, to construct short landscape walls and a large chimney. The house will be clad in a 1×4 cedar rainscreen system, with wood windows and a standing seam metal roof.

There are four wings, each a simple rectangular volume with a pitched roof – the classic Monopoly Hotel form common in these parts. The wings will be linked by two glass-enclosed atriums with flat, planted roofs.

The site’s been staked, the team’s in place and construction scheduled to start soon. The residence is only a small departure from the rest of the buildings on and around the farm, wood structures with limestone bases, corrugated metal roofs, and barn swallows darting in and out of the rafters.

Our shop has served us well as a research lab and testing ground for the residence. Most of the work we do on the ground level at eldo is steel fabrication, but for a few days not long ago, Aaron shelved the cold saw, set up the chop saw and did some good, old-fashioned carpentry. We built a full scale window mock-up (the first of a few) to test materials, wall details, and finishes. After the project is over we’re considering using it as a wiffle-ball strike zone or a playhouse for some lucky eldo kids, although we’re open to suggestions.