The 700 Palms Residence addresses the freedoms and constraints of residential design in Venice.
By maximizing volume, light and privacy on a narrow lot with sensitivity to scale and context, the design presents raw, honest materials appropriate to the grittiness of the Venice environment.
The house dissolves the barriers between indoors and out, creating flexible spaces that take advantage of the benign climate.
It expresses a counterpoint between a sense of harmony and tranquility with flowing, dynamic spaces.
“
... Ehrlich intentionally spliced together cultures and invented a hybrid that is both contextual… and international.”
Architectural Record
Flexibility and transformation are fully realized through the use of a wood-and-steel frame structure, enclosed and shielded for privacy by a roll-down scrim hung on a skeletal steel frame.
As sustainability was a major concern, the design integrates concrete flooring to absorb the sun's warmth in the winter, operable windows and large sliding doors to facilitate natural ventilation and low-maintenance recycled materials.
“
RICHARD NEUTRA WOULD BE TRANSFIXED WITH ENVY...”
Joseph Giovannini, Architecture Critic, for Architectural Record, October 2005