This semester we were invited to teach a graduate level architecture studio at Roger Williams University. We decided to focus the studio on the design of the home, a seemingly simple yet complex design problem with an enormous impact on people’s lives.

Rather than just starting with style or form or even program (that’s archi-speak for “list of rooms”) we asked the students to start with an experience. To help them get started we assigned three midcentury modern homes in New Canaan, CT that they were to study, document and analyze. We asked them to imagine the sensual experience of the space – the sounds, smells, textures and temperature. Then we took them to see and experience the homes in person.

We had a big agenda planned for our trip and we had to drive through a snow storm to get there. We arrived at the first house – the Noyes House (1955) by Eliot Noyes (learn more in Iconic House of the Month) – which was covered under a blanket of fresh white snow. The caretaker had started a fire in the stone hearth and invited us to come in and sit down on the low slung chairs with cracked leather upholstery. We didn’t have to take our shoes off he said, the house was made for living and the thick slate slabs continued uninterrupted from outside to inside. There was pizza waiting for us on the dining table. (We had to cancel our lunch at Grace Farms, a contemporary retreat by Japanese firm SANAA.)

This was no museum; there were photos and newspaper clippings on the wall and rust on the refrigerator. We ate our pizza, relaxed by the fire and tried to clue our senses in to the sounds, smells and textures. To get from the living areas to the bedrooms we had to walk outside under a covered walkway. It is only 12 steps, not far enough to get cold but enough to feel the temperature shift, smell the pine trees and hear the muffled quiet of the snow. This was the perfect setting to study the sensual experience of home.

Curbed reporter Jenny Xie came along with us on the tour and created the hashtag #NewCanaanMCM. She also published this post about our day.