Nebo House

2022

VA AIA 2023 Residential Design Award of Merit

Featured in Architectural Record Record Houses 2023, Dezeen & Design Milk

The site for the Nebo House is a long, narrow plot in the Appalachian foothills that slopes downward to Lake James. The main floor is embedded into the hillside, like a hunter’s blind, with a central courtyard splitting the primary program into two wings.

To the East of the courtyard are social areas and to the West is a private sleeping and bathing suite—Day and Night. A hall which acts as a mechanical and structural spine along the rear retaining wall connects the private and public spaces. The larger, public zones of the interior radiate outward from the courtyard and gradually break up into more intimate niches around the periphery that provide semi-private moments within the open living areas.

Views are focused outward to the lake, while southern light filters in from clerestory windows above. A sculpted cantilever staircase slices upward to the entry and guest rooms, forming a continuous three dimensional void capped by a skylight at its peak. Above grade, the house appears as a cluster of small pavilions along the hillside, framing the lake and mountains beyond.

Photography:  Paul Warchol
Structural Engineer:   Nat Oppenheimer, Silman
Mechanical Engineer:  Mark Cambria, Fusion Systems

Ackerman Farmhouse

2023

Featured in Dwell

Contemporary renovation of a historically designated 18th century farmhouse in Teaneck, New Jersey.  Additional text forthcoming.

Photography:  Paul Warchol
GC:  Alex Chay, AAA General Contracting
Structural Engineer:   Nat Oppenheimer, Silman
Mechanical Engineer:  Mark Cambria, Fusion Systems

Soho Loft

2021

Featured in Interni Magazine, “L’Equilibrio Armonico” July/August 2022 & ArchDaily

Three kinds of spaces are woven together within a classic Soho cast iron building – a working studio, a gallery, and a living space. The client, a painter, commissioned a gut renovation of neglected loft directly above the Dia Earth Room, located in one of the original Fluxhouse cooperatives which generated the 1970’s transformation of Soho.

In this renovation a millwork Pangaea is inserted into the 19th century structural framework, unfolding from a centralized coffered space into program specific areas of the project which are tailored to site conditions and pragmatic requirements. The studio embraces the windowed façade, the domestic areas are a thickened permeable perimeter, and the linear entry gallery frames views both close and beyond with various degrees of privacy. The spaces oscillate between openness and moments of enclosure, layered through the definition of cabinetry volumes, operable planes, and wrapped existing structural elements.

This project commenced in the studio of Diane Lewis where Emma Fuller was an Associate. Upon the death of Diane, Fuller/Overby continued the design work and oversaw construction. This project is a testament to personal, intellectual and professional kinship.

Diane Lewis & Fuller/Overby
Photography:  Paul Warchol
Contractor:   Rosario D’Armetta, Sicula Renovations

Diversions

ongoing

Featured in the Smithsonian Craft Show, New Artists 2022, Washington, DC & the Visual Arts Center Craft & Design Show, October 2022, Richmond, VA

Diversions is a furniture series that uses discarded bentwood café chairs as raw material for new compositions. The Thonet chair design was a progenitor of the modern movement, the first to wed 19th century industrial fabrication with localized labor. Starting in the 1860’s, light-weight factory formed wood components were flat-packed, shipped around the world, and assembled upon arrival. Akin to Ikea, this occurred at massive scale and enjoyed great popularity.

These chairs can now be found in various states from debilitating decay to careful preservation. We rescue the castaways headed to landfills and begin disassembly, returning the chairs to their original state of parts. These parts are then chopped, spliced, and jointed together to form new tableaus. Our curvatures create light fixtures, tables, planters, wall hangers. Each component of the chair is considered in both design and ecology; metal leg brackets become wall affixing hardware and caning comes from a local repair shop that offers us the leftover cords.

The new pieces explore different methods of construction: side pegged, pierced, friction jointed; all with unique consequence. The configurations are not drawn or composed beforehand, but rather worked in the moment. We approach them as tectonic sketches, freely assembling predetermined parts to arrive at unanticipated forms.

Southampton Studio

2023

Conversion of a double lot residential property in Southampton, New York into a painter’s studio space and archive. Currently in construction phase, additional photos & information forthcoming.

Richmond Studio

2023

Adaptive re-use of an existing accessory building in a historically designated district of Richmond, Virginia. Currently in construction phase, additional photos & information forthcoming.

Fuller/Overby is a New York based architecture practice founded by Emma Fuller and Michael Overby in 2019. The work ranges from new construction to adaptive reuse, renovation, exhibition, furniture and lighting.

Emma Fuller

Emma’s architectural design work is interlaced with research, study, and writing. Recognition includes fellowships with The Architectural League/NYSCA, CultureWorks, the Maryland Historical Society, the IPA, and the Storefront for Community Design in Richmond, VA. She is a graduate of Cooper Union with a twelve year professional tenure in the studio of Diane Lewis.

Michael Overby

Michael is a licensed architect with over 15 years of experience in residential, commercial, and cultural projects. He is a graduate of the Cooper Union, holds NCARB certification, and is registered to practice architecture in NY, NJ, VA, and NC. Prior to forming Fuller/Overby, he was an associate with the firm of Reiser+Umemoto.

t:212.388.0094
info@fulleroverby.com