Adaptive Reuse in Atlanta
The New York Times captioned this photo as “the somewhat forbidding exterior of of David Yocum and Brian Bell’s architecture office in Atlanta” but to me it says home. And it is, to bldgs - the architectural firm of David Yocum and Brian Bell - and to Yocum and his wife. All gorgeously adapted 1,850 square feet of it.
On his search for Villa la Murph David Yocum said “I was looking for something that nobody else wanted anymore. Something anonymous, something forgotten.”
And he did:
The building had been abandoned for seven years. It had always been, since 1947, an automotive electric parts warehouse. When the owner died in 1992, the family locked the door and moved out of the state. Since then, the roof had collapsed from the weight of standing water. It took me three months to track down the descendents of the owner, and when their agent showed up to meet me, I had to climb over the walls to get in.
Personally, I always consider that a very good sign. Something is always worth pursuing when I have to climb over chain link or cement walls, just makes it more enticing. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.
The studio is one room: 1000sf. Between the studio and the living area are two parallel walls. These walls are staggered and sliced by gaps filled with glass. The parallel walls hold three rooms: a kitchen, a utility room, and a shower room. When you wash dishes, when you do laundry, when you shower, the gaps in the walls frame views to the courtyard and beyond to the sky.
At the very back, the living area is 850sf. It holds a bed, two chairs, and a table. From the bed, through the gaps in the walls, you can keep your eye on the front door.
More photos:
Via Adaptive Reuse
Top photo: Dwight Eschliman/NYT, Other photos: bldgs website
