Carolina Home + Garden / Spring 2011 / Architect Ken Gaylord Goes Back to the Drawing Board

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Architect Ken Gaylord Goes Back to the Drawing Board

Old-world Italian masonry distinguishes foothills villa

Ken Gaylord is so behind the times he’s vaulted ahead into his own renaissance. Sure, the Hendersonville architect adopted AutoCAD when it became professionally imperative to do so. But that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

“I had to go to computer-rendered drawings when I realized I couldn’t find young draftsmen anymore who could draw worth a darn,” says Gaylord, a self-described “artist at heart” who still prefers to take up the pencil to do design work. Right now that happens to be the future Italian-style country home of Cynthia and Scott Glidden, respectively a retired teacher and fabric designer who run an organic farm, Glencora, raising sheep, dairy goats, poultry and vegetables.

Fourteen years ago, the Gliddens hired Gaylord to design their dream home on the 70 rural, rolling acres they own near King’s Mountain, North Carolina, a foothills town outside of Charlotte. But life interfered — Scott was switching to a freelance design career, and the couple was still busy raising their daughter, who’s now married, a mother, and living in Portland, Oregon.

Today, the Gliddens are metaphorically in a different place. Their family pride is reflected in the title of their estate (Cora was Cynthia’s mother’s name; it is now the name of the couple’s baby granddaughter). And time has slowed enough for them to roll out the blueprints once more.

Those haven’t changed much. “Ours was the last house plan that Ken drew by hand,” notes Scott. And Gaylord adds: “When we pulled those drawings out after 14 years, my staff said, ‘Those are really beautiful drawings. We ought to frame them.’ I felt a little nostalgic. I realized that I miss being an architect when being an architect was that.”

There is, he observes, “a sensual aspect of drawing. Using your hand, being in close, tactile contact with your work, enhances the texture of what you’re doing.”

Instead of updating the renderings through CAD, he decided to proceed the way he’d started. But it’s not just the drawings that will show slow-style craftsmanship. Pointedly different from the wood-frame farmhouse the family’s lived in since they bought the property, the 2,100-square-foot home will be constructed of autoclaved aerated concrete, an environmentally-friendly lightweight building material.

Millennially thick walls and a warm stucco and stone exterior “are very typical of historical architecture in Europe,” says Gaylord, who studied in Rome and whose wife has family connections in Italy. A balustrade-crowned loggia announcing a west-side entrance, tile applications, numerous arches and a tall, narrow aspect — the home is three stories high, with the master suite on top — will further establish a Mediterranean flair at Glencora.

“It’s a simple design concept,” says Gaylord of this ancient style. “The geometry is not complicated.” But the substantive proportions make what’s historic almost maverick. The thermal efficiency provided by thick aerated autoclaved concrete walls is nothing if not “green” — ditto the smaller earthen footprint resulting from vertical construction. Superior acoustics is an excellent aesthetic benefit.

“Thick-wall masonry greatly affects the way sound moves through space, thus influencing the mood of a room,” says the architect. “There’s a quality to this kind of architecture that the typical American, thin-walled, wooden house just doesn’t have.”

Gaylord has designed and built several aerated autoclaved concrete structures of note, including the chancellor’s residence at UNCA. Still, houses made of AAC remain relatively uncommon. Luckily, the architect found a kindred DIY spirit in the Gliddens, who shun the idea of one-level living as a must for retiring couples. They’re counting on all the stairs in their new home to help them stay active. On a more immediately pragmatic note, a ground-level processing kitchen will keep their organic-farming passion a focal point.

Visiting Gaylord and his wife in their own home one day, Scott discovered a fabric pillow cover that, by pure coincidence, was one he’d designed himself years before. Not surprisingly, the Gliddens will likely pick, or even make, most of their own appointments, instead of hiring an interior designer.

“Back when I was studying art, I kept myself employed doing carpentry work, and so I’m good at that sort of thing as well,” says Scott. “Cynthia and I plan to let the architecture of the house dictate what we do inside. If I make something and I don’t like it, I’ll just remake it. Ours is a fire-and-adjust method.”

Gaylord, too, prefers hands-on fulfillment. As a design-builder (his complementary business is Black Hawk Construction), he avoids any visionary disconnect in a home’s execution. Again, it’s an old-world thing.

“If you go back a couple of centuries, it was the primary way of doing things. In the 20th century, architecture and construction became very separated. Now, there’s some recognition of the significant benefits of bringing them back together.”

Ken Gaylord Architects and Black Hawk Construction are located at 109 S. Main Street, Hendersonville. Call 828-692-4550 or visit www.kengaylord.com for more information.