Charlotte North Carolina | 2022 | House

Steel Louise is a single-family urban infill house located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Situated in Belmont, a historic neighborhood undergoing rapid transformation near the urban core of Charlotte’s Uptown, the architecture reckons with dramatic contradictions between the neighborhood’s past and present, offering an alternative architectural vision for infill development.

The monolithic steel-clad form morphs to address multiple scales at once -- gesturing equally to existing single-story historic mill houses as well as more recent, two-story development. Coffered recesses on both the front and rear facades define a series of porches with differing proportions, views, and orientations, drawing natural light deep into the interior. These voids, clad in black painted wood slats and panels, are inhabitable poché, providing a moody dark transition to the otherwise bright interior spaces.

As opposed to more recent development that mimics suburban types, Steel Louise’s ambition was to contribute to the civic life of its context. Large glazed openings offer views from the street through the main living space to the rear yard, expanding the space of the house to the street, giving the private house a unique and generous public appearance.

Photography by Keith Isaacs