flex house

Flex House is a 3,000-square-foot urban infill project by Johnsen Schmaling Architects, located on North Astor Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Occupying a long-vacant site positioned between an existing apartment building and a surface parking lot, the project responds to its diverse urban and residential context. The house is designed for a family of four, with an adaptable configuration to support a range of future uses, including residential, commercial, or rental functions on the ground floor. The building consists of two interlocking volumes: a steel-clad L-shaped plinth at the base that contains a tandem garage and a flexible street-level unit, and a slightly cantilevered two-story cedar-clad wood volume above housing the main family residence. Horizontal and vertical steel channels separate and frame these two components. Entry is marked by a trellised steel portico that leads to both the main vestibule and the separate ground-floor suite. The primary dwelling reverses typical layouts by placing living spaces and kitchen on the top floor for city views, while bedrooms are on the floor below. A linear roof terrace runs alongside the living area, and the materials reference both nearby commercial and historic residential structures through contrasting steel panels and vertical cedar siding.