News
HOUZZ HIGHLIGHTS SYA'S SOUTH CAROLINA GUEST PAVILION AS A MODERN RESILIENT HOME
Guest Pavilion
The Guest Pavilion is a modern, storm-resilient retreat for Southern beach living.
An elegant modern addition to a traditional beach house, renovated by SYA years earlier, forms a dramatic backdrop to a 66’ long infinity pool and creates an expansive outdoor gathering space for family and guests. The pavilion, a modern interpretation of a traditional Charleston, South Carolina house, a long narrow box shaded by a long porch, is highly responsive to its site and climate and creates a strong connection to the regional culture.
The pavilion is raised above hurricane flood level and finished beneath to provide shaded living spaces cooled by sea breezes. The pool-facing wall, which is glass to maximize natural light and views to the pool and beach, is screened by sustainably forested wood louvers. Natural ventilation is enabled by the structure’s narrow width and operable windows on each side. The interiors are spacious, light-filled, and connected to the pool as a result of the window wall, an open plan divisible by concealed pocket doors, a simple minimal palette, and carefully framed views.
“Raising up a house on stilts is no new idea for coastal homebuilding. Now areas like the Low Country of South Carolina are stipulating that ground up homes comply with regulations to limit damage from storms and flooding. New York-based Stephen Yablon Architect met these restrictions while breaking architectural ground in Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina.”
Kelsey Keith, Dwell Magazine
“The new Guest Pavilion is a real triumph.”
Robert Behre, Architecture Critic, The Charleston Post and Courier
“Surely one of their most expansive and sensitive buildings has been their South Carolina Guest Pavilion, a subtle but assertively modern reinterpretation of a traditional domestic manner of the region.”
Kenneth Frampton, Ware Professor of Architecture, Columbia University
The pavilion is raised above the hurricane flood plain creating a unique shaded living space underneath
A simple dramatic addition creates a grand outdoor living space
Shaded living space cooled by sea breezes coming over the pool
Metal siding and punched openings along the lot line
Main entry stair
Local materials include Southern Pine floors and Southern Oak veneer millwork. Photograph by Peter Frank Edwards.
View from office
Kitchenette
Stair to second floor
The new addition forms a large outdoor space focused on the pool.
Context
Sullivan’s Island: a barrier island community near Charleston, South Carolina. The island is designated as a FEMA Coastal High Hazard Area, requiring the lowest floor of structures to be elevated above the 100 year flood line, as much as 14’ above grade. Typical single family homes on the island are wood framed, raised on tightly-spaced timber piles with the areas beneath enclosed with wood lattice and used only for open-air storage and parking.
Sullivan's Island beach
Typical barrier island home
Environmental Approach
The design of the pavilion takes many cues from the traditional Charleston House. Positioned to one side of the typically small lots these narrow houses with exterior porch maximize cross ventilation while minimizing sun exposure during the summer months.
Typical Charleston House
Process
Structure: Steel moment frame on concrete columns
Wood louver mock-ups
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