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Design Detail: An Architect Explains His Use of Slotted Cutouts
The functional and decorative element is repeated throughout a Chicago home
What started as a modest interior design project soon became a complete transformation of this Chicago spec house. The work included commissioned art as well as the development of a rather interesting cutout detail that architect Jeffrey L. Day used in several areas of the home. Here, he breaks down where and why he used the architectural element so prominently.
On the ceiling in the hallway off the kitchen, an HVAC grille contains cutouts backed in black filter fabric to block the view of the duct interior.
“We desired for the holes to appear as a natural or inevitable part of the wall paneling, as if a ventilation grill just emerged from the wall paneling,” Day says. “We also wanted this to appear as a single idea that transformed for each function, rather than addressing each functional need with an ad hoc solution. In the example of the return air grille, we chose to form the wood into a grille rather than impose an off-the-shelf product. The same logic operates throughout. The wood paneling — made from the same custom-milled board module throughout — adjusts to respond to local conditions.”
“We desired for the holes to appear as a natural or inevitable part of the wall paneling, as if a ventilation grill just emerged from the wall paneling,” Day says. “We also wanted this to appear as a single idea that transformed for each function, rather than addressing each functional need with an ad hoc solution. In the example of the return air grille, we chose to form the wood into a grille rather than impose an off-the-shelf product. The same logic operates throughout. The wood paneling — made from the same custom-milled board module throughout — adjusts to respond to local conditions.”
Dining Area
In the dining area off the living room, the slots near the ceiling cover translucent white acrylic that obscures views through windows on the side of the home. (The neighboring home is just 3 feet away.) At night, hidden artificial lights make the panels glow.
“This was something that evolved out of our design process,” Day says of the detail. “When we came to the decision to use solid white oak boards for the paneling, and that the board joints would be expressed as reveals in some situations, we sought a way to make openings or perforations in these walls such that they appeared as a natural widening of the gaps between boards rather than as imposed, cut holes. The gaps thus appear to emerge from the wood paneling pattern.”
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In the dining area off the living room, the slots near the ceiling cover translucent white acrylic that obscures views through windows on the side of the home. (The neighboring home is just 3 feet away.) At night, hidden artificial lights make the panels glow.
“This was something that evolved out of our design process,” Day says of the detail. “When we came to the decision to use solid white oak boards for the paneling, and that the board joints would be expressed as reveals in some situations, we sought a way to make openings or perforations in these walls such that they appeared as a natural widening of the gaps between boards rather than as imposed, cut holes. The gaps thus appear to emerge from the wood paneling pattern.”
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The cutout appears as a finger pull on special cabinet doors in the dining room, as well as pulls for exterior gates on the property. “In all locations the detail has a distinct function, but the form itself is an ornamental feature,” Day says. “The goal for this ornamentation was for it to appear integral to the millwork.”
Project manager Ashley Byars and cabinetmaker KWI Custom Cabinetry were also integral in the development of the detail.
Project manager Ashley Byars and cabinetmaker KWI Custom Cabinetry were also integral in the development of the detail.
Here’s another look at the slots in the dining room, which leads to a hallway containing more of the cutout detail.
Stairway Divider
The pattern comes up again along a stairway, at left, that leads to rooftop patios.
The pattern comes up again along a stairway, at left, that leads to rooftop patios.
Here’s an early sketch of the slot detail. “The refinement of this occurred in the shop drawing phase,” Day says.
Read a Q&A with architect Jeffrey Day
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Read a Q&A with architect Jeffrey Day
More on Houzz
10 Things Architects Want You to Know About What They Do
Get design ideas
Find an architect near you
Shop for home products
House at a Glance
Location: Chicago
Architect: Jeffrey L. Day of Actual Architecture
Project. “The brief was to upgrade an existing spec house with new furniture, artwork, millwork, lighting and other interior finishes in order to transform the home without altering it structurally, or changing plumbing locations in any significant way,” Day says. “The work extended over four floors and included new finishes and guardrails at exterior roof decks, sunken gardens, as well complete transformations of all interior spaces and surfaces.”
Architectural detail. An elongated hex-like cutout. “The detail is a slot cut from solid white oak wood paneling used throughout the house in different ways,” Day says. “Emerging from the reveal-joint between unique boards, the holes or slots have a double S-curve at the ends that allows the gap to widen to the width of a single board, but cut from two adjacent boards so as to maintain the integrity of the paneling.”
Kitchen
In the kitchen, a pattern of slots appears above the cabinets and is backlit by cove lighting for ambiance.
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