2013 AIA Honor Award, Ohio Chapter
2012 AIA Honorable Mention Award, Cleveland Chapter
2011 AIA Exceptional Detail Award, Cleveland Chapter
Architecture for residential additions is often characterized by two distinct approaches: imitate the style of the home so the addition is indistinguishable or create something clearly new and different. Neither mimicry nor novelty would suffice for the expansion of the Brahler Residence; the unique qualities of the site and a desire to integrate with the existing architecture called for a hybrid strategy. The site possesses a dramatic downward slope from the street toward a brook that bisects the lot. A densely wooded perimeter provides privacy from the compact suburban neighborhood. The existing century old shake clad structure is a quaint cottage style that the client wished to maintain but enhance with open interior spaces filled with natural light. A new master suite, gallery, and indoor/outdoor entertaining spaces supplement the existing program.The architecture merges landscape and building surfaces that articulate the envelope for the addition while configuring the site into differentiated formal and informal spaces. Due to the existing home's immediate adjacency to the brook, the front yard is the principal zone for exterior leisure activities. To take advantage of this limited area, the addition is organized to create courtyard spaces at multiple levels. A gallery and circulation spine seamlessly tethers spaces with an undulating roof plane that mediates between gabled and diagonally hipped roof geometries creating a dynamic vaulted interior space. Exterior roof and facade cladding is comprised of wood shake, metal standing seam, and vegetated surfaces that fold together, collapsing the distinction between new and existing, landscape, facade, and roof surfaces. From the street, the windowless living facade camouflages the addition's massing, increasing privacy for the spaces beyond. Once inside, one encounters a very different environment. Glazing is positioned for deep and layered views, creating subtle visual connections between spaces and dramatic views to the surrounding natural environment.
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