Client: Eric Wolf
Project Type: Private Residence/Artist's Studio
Program: 3,104 sq. ft. house including open living, dining, display and studio space, three bedrooms and a roof terrace.
Project Team: Preston Scott Cohen (Design); Alexandra Barker, Chris Hoxie, Aaron D'Innocenzo, Judy Hodge (Project Assistants)

In the Torus House, a curving line crosses several flat surfaces - walls, floors and ceilings - causing them to undulate. The straight lines between these otherwise conventional surfaces break along the curving line and thus appear to be folds in a single surface rather than normative orthogonal intersections between separate planes. This synthesis of normative features with a curvilinear element produces a relationship between an a-historic form alien to architecture - the torus and several historically pervasive types within architecture the courtyard, empluvium, stairwell, and lightwell. The client expects to entertain often and paint on his rooftop. Upon parking under the Torus House, guests may walk up the spiral staircase contained in the core, by-pass the interior of the house, arrive on the roof, and survey the landscape. The interior of the main body of the house can thus be understood as the interval in a threshold between roof and ground landscapes. This sequence recalls the voyeuristic pleasure of an invited guest to an outdoor party who arrives by passing though an empty house on the way to backyard festivities. Hence, its association with the theme of the "Un-Private" at the Museum of Modern Art in 1999.