This modest renovation resists the current inner-ring
suburban trend towards demolition of older, smaller
homes in favor of new over-scaled ‘farmhouses.’ The
clients, a young family with two small children wanted
more space for play and individual bedrooms but
expressed a desire not to ‘lose one another’ in a home
too vast or impersonal. Their one-story bungalow, a relic
of the first wave of suburban development in this area,
has been expanded through the careful integration of
appropriately scaled additional program and volume. A
carport and efficiency apartment on the first floor were
removed to make way for a new addition containing
a first-floor playroom and a partial second story with
side-by-side bedrooms for the children connected
through a ‘Jack & Jill’ bathroom as well as a new Master
Suite. The playroom’s double-height volume binds all
of the above and provides access to the garden beyond
through a covered porch tucked under the Master Suite.
South-facing roof apertures capture and direct daylight
deep into the north-facing playroom and porch. New
expansive windows frame views to a mature Japanese
maple tree in the yard.