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Great Compositions: The Dogtrot House
Historic breeze-capturing design inspires smart house plans for today
Urban and Rural Residential design, Houses, Barns and Landscapes
http://www.joshmccullar.com
I am a native of the southern Virginia Piedmont region and grew up in a handful of small towns throughout both Carolinas and Virginia. The rich vernacular landscape of the region's old mills, tobacco barns, railroad tracks, verdant forests, rivers, streams, and dusty fields have been the backdrop of my life. So for me, architectural design begins with the premise that the act of building is a negotiated engagement with the land and should endeavor to create a sense of place. The origin of this value is that architecture at its very best, strengthens and amplifies the inherent qualities of the landscape, and so the craft of building must begin and end with a respectful stewardship of the site.
What...
Urban and Rural Residential design, Houses, Barns and Landscapes
http://www.joshmccullar.com
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The dogtrot house is one of the most iconic forms of domestic vernacular architecture in the Southern U.S. Its lineage can be traced to the one-room square log cabins along the hills of Appalachia. As family life and functional needs expanded, the farmer simply added another cabin and connected the two with a common sheltering roof. And, when the old dog was too hot to trot, as they say, the covered breezeway was the perfect escape from the region's engulfing heat and humidity. Thus, the name "dogtrot" was born to describe a new form of domestic architecture forever linked to the South.
I grew up in the rural Piedmont of the Carolinas, so scenes of abandoned tenant houses, sharecropper's shacks, and dog trots were the everyday architecture of my childhood. They were humble, poetic, and simply beautiful, without pretense. A very functional need was provided for with the simplest of means, and that is the essential lesson.
Architects so rarely succeed in making buildings as well placed and beautiful as the vernacular structures left behind by frontiersmen and farmers. Today, a few architects have found ways to reinterpret these forms for modern living by opening up the central room to the landscape and breezes.
I grew up in the rural Piedmont of the Carolinas, so scenes of abandoned tenant houses, sharecropper's shacks, and dog trots were the everyday architecture of my childhood. They were humble, poetic, and simply beautiful, without pretense. A very functional need was provided for with the simplest of means, and that is the essential lesson.
Architects so rarely succeed in making buildings as well placed and beautiful as the vernacular structures left behind by frontiersmen and farmers. Today, a few architects have found ways to reinterpret these forms for modern living by opening up the central room to the landscape and breezes.
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| An exquisite Texas house by Lake | Flato Architects, the Cross Timbers Ranch has a broad sheltering roof over a huge outdoor breezeway. Enclosed living space is relatively small compared to the amount of covered open air space, which for most of the year is just as livable as the interior. |
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| Here is a precedent. The historic John Looney House in Asheville, Alabama is a rare surviving example of a two-story dogtrot. This is the iconic form with a view straight through the center of the house. Clearly evident are two cubic cabin forms on each side of the breezeway. Fireplaces were almost always placed at the gable ends. One side was for sleeping, and other for dining and cooking. The open center was the sitting and living space and was naturally cooled as breezes were pulled into each side through open doorways. |
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| San Antonio-based Lake | Flato Architects also has designed a modular system of small structures that can be flexibly arranged on a site according to the needs of the owner. Here at the Miller Ranch, a dogtrot structure contains an open living space and kitchen separated from the master suite across the breezeway. A detached guest pavilion is placed to create an inner courtyard. The Texas climate is well suited to an arrangment of small individual one-room-deep pavilions with cross ventilation, much like the historic vernacular precedent. |
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| The dogtrot can be seen here at the far end of this open family space with the master suite beyond that. The one-room deep space is almost entirely made up of doors and windows that open along each side. This is the right response to a hot and humid climate. |
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| A strong line of sight is established by well-considered placement of each pavilion set on an axis just off center from a beautiful old tree. I strongly believe that the landscape is the architect's most trusted and loyal companion! |
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| Operable sliding louvered panels allow privacy and the ability to modulate the sun and air when needed. I could imagine these being equipped with insect screens, creating a sleeping porch for cool fall nights. |
| This South Carolina home is large and extensive, but the open center pulls the eye and the breeze right through it . The pool sets up a nice axis and reflects the classic formality of the home. |
| The space transitions to a seating area where furniture is used to reinforce the lines of the architecture. The eye carries on through porch, pool and beyond to into the coastal marsh. |
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Roll-up doors disappear, opening this dining space to the ocean on one side and the entry path on the other. A pair of tall urns reinforce the symmetry and axial focus of the single point perspective.
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This contemporary home also places the dining room in the open space and sets up an axial relationship of furniture and architecture. Good designers look for ways to make the two complement each other.
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Here, the elements of a classic dogtrot house are achieved by returning the exterior walls of each self-contained space into the breezeway. A pair of twin buildings are connected only by a roof, and appears to stay completely open during all seasons.
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| While not a true dogtrot, this home follows the concept with a large, open, cross-ventilated central living space. |
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| Brett Zamore Studio in Houston developed the "Shot Trot" house as a hybrid between the shotgun and the dogtrot. Like a shotgun house, the narrow end faces the street, but the open breezeway is oriented towards the side yard and an extended deck. |
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| A deck extends from one side, and the living room expands outward in the spring and fall. During the most humid and hot period of summer, these louvers act as sunscreens, filtering light to the interior. |
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Here's a peek inside the Shot Trot house.
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by Mike Connell
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| This single-story board-and-batten ranch house appears very typical at first glance, but the breezeway frames the view of a mountain canyon. |
by Mike Connell
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Here, the view of that canyon can be enjoyed under an open beam roof with a skylight. The narrow long table extends the eye outward as the lines of the roof structure push downward, converging at a distant point in space.
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| My favorite variations of the dogtrot house have always been those with fireplaces added to the center. I also just happen to love a good fireplace — it stokes my heart! It allows use of the open space during cooler weather, allowing you to feel both the cool breeze and the warmth of an open fire. There is just something so satisfying about that. |
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This chimney stands in one opening of a dogtrot, rather than being part of the interior wall. It becomes a two-sided fireplace, and the central space is a place to gather friends and family for a weekend retreat in Mississippi.
Design by Waggonner and Ball Architects
Design by Waggonner and Ball Architects
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| The two-story dogtrot precedent has inspired this concept for a coastal modern retreat. A large common roof is designed to shelter two wooden louvered sleeping cabanas on each side of a central breezeway, on axis with the fireplace. Even on the coast, the fireplace will be a gathering spot on cool spring or fall evenings. The second floor deck connects the cabanas, and a rear kitchen and dining area will open to the lawn and pool. |
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| The serenity of an all-white interior, exposed roof structure, and side walls that open make this living area cool and calming. When designing a home, vernacular precedent like the dogtrot house can offer time-tested lessons of introducing light and air into the center of the home. More: The L-Shaped House Plan Living La Vida Local |
Comments
Kathryn Gardner What great houses - I loved them all!
18 months ago · Like
ruffslitch As a native Southerner I can't pick a favorite for potential! But why the fusion of modern architecture with historic technique? I adore classic design and just can't warm up to modern beyond a few-a very few-knick-knacks that could swing both ways.
18 months ago · Like
bednbreakfast I dream of having something similar to these someday, love the choices and the photography is incredible too!
18 months ago · Like
danijelaq I love homes where the inside blends into the outside -- there is not beginning and end of the interior.
18 months ago · Like
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Michelle Fries, BeDe Design, LLC Perfect use of photos for dogtrot homes. I think (hope) I see one in my future. Love the way you write-clear and concise. Great read. Thanks for posting.
13 months ago · Like
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Ideabook updated on Nov. 22, 2011.
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