Pendulum Studio is often associated with sports architecture. Our work frequently centers on places designed for collective experiences, including stadiums, athletic facilities, and community venues that bring people together through competition, celebration, and shared moments. These projects are inherently public in nature, shaped by movement, scale, and the energy of large crowds. Yet architecture, regardless of building type, is ultimately about creating meaningful experiences. Occasionally, those experiences unfold on a much more intimate scale.

From Public Venues to Private Life

A private residence currently under construction in Prairie Village, Kansas, has provided an opportunity to explore architecture from a different perspective. While considerably smaller than many of the projects that define our portfolio, the challenges presented by residential design are no less significant. In many ways, designing a home requires an even greater level of care and precision. A stadium may welcome thousands of visitors over the course of a season, but a home is experienced every day by the same people. The architecture becomes woven into routines, family traditions, and lifelong memories. Every decision carries a personal dimension because every space ultimately serves the daily lives of those who inhabit it.

This project began with a simple ambition: to create a residence defined by openness, transparency, and connection. The clients were drawn to a contemporary architectural language characterized by clean geometry, expansive glazing, and an honest expression of structure. Rather than creating a house that turned inward, the goal was to design a residence that engaged with its surroundings while maintaining the privacy expected of a family home. Balancing those seemingly opposing objectives became one of the defining themes of the project.

Like most successful projects, the design did not emerge fully formed. It began with exploration. Early studies were developed in SketchUp, allowing the design team to investigate massing, circulation, proportion, and the relationship between the building and its site. At this stage, architecture is less about certainty and more about discovery. Ideas are tested, challenged, refined, and sometimes discarded altogether. Volumes shift. Roof planes evolve. Spaces expand and contract. Through that iterative process, the strongest architectural ideas begin to reveal themselves.

3D Printed Models, Renderings, and the Architecture Between

For designers, there is often a temptation to view digital modeling as the final word in visualization. The software available today is extraordinarily powerful, capable of producing highly detailed representations that closely resemble the finished building. Yet there remains something uniquely valuable about physical models. Holding a project in your hands creates an understanding that simply cannot be replicated on a screen.

Throughout the development of this residence, a series of study models were produced at varying scales. Some focused on overall massing and site relationships, while others explored the sectional qualities of the building and the experience of moving through interior spaces. Presented in monochromatic white, these models intentionally stripped away materiality and decoration, allowing the architecture itself to take center stage. Without finishes, landscaping, or furnishings competing for attention, the focus remained entirely on form, proportion, light, and composition.

The physical models became critical design tools. They allowed the design team and the client to evaluate how the building occupied space, how roof planes interacted with one another, and how the architecture would be perceived from different vantage points throughout the site. The models also provided an opportunity to study the balance between solid and void, helping refine the relationship between enclosed living areas and expansive glazed openings.

As the design evolved, renderings provided another layer of exploration. While physical models revealed form and proportion, digital visualizations introduced materiality, atmosphere, and light. The project began to take on a richer identity through the introduction of steel, glass, warm natural finishes, and landscape elements. Exterior renderings demonstrated how the home would engage with its site, while interior perspectives explored the quality of daylight and the visual connections between living spaces and the surrounding environment.

The progression from digital study to physical model to photorealistic rendering is a reminder that architecture is never a linear process. Every stage informs the next. Questions raised during rendering often lead back to refinements in the model. Insights gained from a physical study may influence the development of construction documents. The process is iterative by nature, with each step contributing to a more thoughtful and resolved final design.

Designing for Openness

As the architectural language matured, a clear vision emerged. The residence is characterized by strong horizontal roof planes, carefully composed volumes, and a deliberate interplay between transparency and solidity. Expansive glass walls establish visual connections between interior and exterior spaces, allowing natural light to penetrate deep into the home while framing views of the landscape beyond. Rather than treating the building envelope as a rigid boundary, the design seeks to blur the distinction between inside and outside, creating spaces that feel simultaneously protected and connected to nature.

The emphasis on openness extends beyond aesthetics. It is fundamental to how the house will be experienced. Living spaces flow into one another with minimal interruption. Views are carefully orchestrated to create a sense of continuity across the site. Outdoor terraces become extensions of interior rooms, while generous glazing transforms the landscape into an ever-changing backdrop for daily life. The architecture is designed to encourage engagement with natural light, seasonal changes, and the surrounding environment.

Achieving this level of openness requires a structural system capable of supporting ambitious spans and dramatic cantilevers. Steel became an essential component of the design, not only for its structural capabilities but also for its architectural expression. The steel frame enables expansive openings that would be difficult to achieve through conventional residential construction. It allows roof planes to float, corners to dissolve into glass, and spaces to feel remarkably open despite the complexity of the building program.

Today, the project has reached an exciting milestone. Construction is well underway, and the steel frame has risen from the foundation, transforming years of planning and design into something tangible. There is always a remarkable moment in an architectural project when drawings begin to become reality. Spaces that previously existed only as sketches, models, and renderings suddenly become occupiable. Dimensions become experiences. Relationships that were once studied through miniature representations can finally be understood at full scale.

Walking through the emerging structure, it is possible to recognize many of the ideas that first appeared in the earliest conceptual studies. The dramatic roof planes, the openness of the primary living spaces, and the visual connections between levels are no longer abstract concepts. They are becoming architecture. The steel skeleton reveals the organizational logic of the building with remarkable clarity, offering a glimpse of the finished residence before walls, glazing, and finishes complete the composition.

From Concept to Construction

The construction phase also offers an opportunity to appreciate the precision required to bring contemporary architecture to life. Modern design often appears effortless when complete. Clean lines, minimal detailing, and restrained forms can create an impression of simplicity. In reality, achieving that simplicity requires extraordinary coordination among architects, engineers, fabricators, and contractors. Every connection must be carefully considered. Every alignment matters. Every detail contributes to the overall clarity of the finished work.

This is particularly true for a residence such as this one, where the architecture relies heavily on precise relationships between steel, glass, and carefully crafted architectural volumes. The visual lightness of the design is made possible by significant structural rigor behind the scenes. What appears simple is often the result of hundreds of thoughtful decisions and countless hours of collaboration.

For Pendulum Studio, projects like this serve as a valuable reminder that design transcends building type. The principles that guide the creation of sports facilities, community venues, and large-scale public architecture remain relevant when designing a private residence. The scale may change, but the process remains remarkably similar. Successful architecture begins with thoughtful questions, evolves through exploration and refinement, and ultimately succeeds when it creates meaningful experiences for the people who use it.

At the same time, residential architecture presents a unique opportunity to engage with a level of intimacy rarely encountered in larger public projects. A home is deeply personal. It is where families gather, celebrate milestones, find refuge, and create memories. The architect’s responsibility extends beyond aesthetics and function. It involves shaping the backdrop for everyday life. Every room, every view, and every connection between spaces contributes to that experience.

As construction continues in Prairie Village, the residence will undergo its next transformation. Steel will be complemented by glass and carefully selected materials. Landscapes will soften the geometry of the architecture and strengthen its relationship to the site. Interior spaces will gain warmth, texture, and character. The vision first explored through sketches and study models will continue to evolve as the building moves closer to completion.

Yet even as the project advances, traces of its origins remain visible. The ideas first tested in SketchUp, refined through physical models, and explored through renderings are embedded in every beam, opening, and carefully considered proportion. The process itself becomes part of the architecture.

More Than a House

Architecture is often judged by its final appearance, but its true value lies in the journey that brings it into existence. This Prairie Village residence is a celebration of that journey and a reminder that thoughtful design is rarely the product of a single moment of inspiration. Instead, it emerges through a continual process of exploration, refinement, collaboration, and discovery.

For a studio known primarily for creating places where communities gather and athletes compete, this project offers a different kind of architectural challenge. It is smaller in scale, but no less meaningful. It is a reminder that great design is ultimately about people, whether the audience is a crowd of thousands or a single family calling a house home.

As this residence continues to rise from concept to reality, we look forward to sharing the next chapter of its story. From sketch to model, from rendering to steel, and ultimately from construction site to completed home, the project stands as a testament to the enduring value of design as a process and architecture as a deeply human endeavor.

Credits:

Design Team: Kayla Hermsmeier, Jacob McLain, Kyle Milstead, Neill Scheiter