The residence built above 301 King St. is more strikingly contemporary than most anything built in downtown Charleston in recent memory. The steel, wood and glass home is designed to maximize views of the surrounding historic district and provide a mix of quality indoor and outdoor spaces that help define the urban home.
The air rights for the project, above an existing 2 two story 19th century building, is over the Apple Store and Blue Ion-- a digital marketing agency. The new structure is perched atop the rear of the building and minimally visible from the historic shopping district of King Street. Split in two volumes, the residence rests on 18 slender steel columns, plus a central I-beam through the spaces below placed during its previous office renovation. That renovation work also included strengthening its walls with gunnite to support a home floating above the roof.
The lower volume, surrounded by 20 louver panels made of structural fiberglass and moveable to allow for the inhabitant to dictate the desired level of privacy, is where the bedrooms are located and continue the city’s rich tradition of partially screened spaces. The upper volume contains all the interior living spaces in the home and features 12 foot ceilings with exposed steel structure and expansive picture windows able to take in an urban perspective like no other in Charleston.
The main living areas open to the roof of the lower volume through an operable wall that allows the owner to access open decks and sit surrounded by the green roof and the skyline of the city. The residence also utilizes a solar array, a high efficiency split-system HVAC unit and open cell polyisocyanurate insulation throughout. The two separate volumes speak of disparate landscapes, typologies, functions and tectonics. A dual personality responding to the specifics of the site and the aura of the sky, the project is a true contemporary oasis in the heart of historic Charleston.
