The
remodel of, and 412 SF addition to a 1940s cottage with a traditional floor plan
and little connection to the outside, transformed it into a house where spaces
are defined by activities and adjacencies, not necessarily by walls. This is
now a 1795 SF house for the parents, two boys (8 and 13 years old) and many characters
of their imaginary play.
Owners
and Architect agreed that building green means making the most out of less. By
working on a smaller scale, the owners were able to put more money into the
details. These details make every space useful in more than one way.
What
we accomplished in a small house:
-An
entry zone with built-in storage, a shoe bench, coat hooks and a hat rack that also
is part of an extended spine through the house to the back yard.
-
A family zone that occupies a generous, light filled space, like a clearing,
where the flat ceiling kicks up to an upward slope that continues as deep roof
overhang sheltering the exterior deck. The dining and sitting areas are under
the high sky. The existing kitchen and new family work area are under the lower
canopy of the flat ceiling. A paneled utility core in the center of the space
with shelves and storage on the dining side, and a recessed, flat screen TV
screen on the living side, separates the uses without segregating them. It
houses the furnace and electrical panel.
-
A private zone for parents, a bedroom and bathroom, that is generous not by
square footage but through high ceilings, many views to the outside and a
frameless clerestory between bedroom and bathroom. The bamboo of the built-in
cabinets contributes to a feeling of serenity.
-A
kids’ zone, the two private bedrooms, that occupies through the children’s creative play the built-in ledges and shelves throughout the house
and gives a different meaning to richness of details.
-A deck where exterior
details, such as the sliding wooden louvers and the deep roof overhang brings
the living room to the outside.