this was a great project - a family that couldn't decide between renovating and moving (which is very typical of our clients!). they really took their time through the design process, and as a result their home is perfectly tailored. and that's what we aim for - a perfectly tailored piece of architecture.
the front of this georgian remained mostly the same, with the exception of this new front entry. i love it. the gentle curve, chunky columns... it's all consistent with the style of the home, but refreshingly contemporary, too.
and here is an image of the front before the porch (yes, that's an enormously pregnant ME taking measurements and notes in front). but the real story is the back of this home - that's where everything happened.
you can see the form isn't foreign - it borrows from the original home. but everything else changed. our primary goals were to blow open the interiors in a dramatic way (the original layout was fragmented and cramped), and to design the addition to the back so that it had a gentle, scaled transition to the backyard - the owners were very committed to NOT adding on a 'box' in the back. the scaling of the addition was really successful on this project, as were the details. our attention to detail ensured that the architecture maintained a feeling of clean simplicity in even the most complicated situations (and wow, this house had some complicated situations!). the interiors are wide open for the full depth of the house on one side, and the family loves it.
the existing interior rooms were so small and fragmented that we couldn't really get photos of them - it was impossible to get the camera far enough away in a small room! this photo is a good example - the existing family room. It was about 7-6x14, very tight and oddly proportioned. through those interior windows (!) is the dining room and past that is a small galley kitchen. the route between the kitchen and family room was long and circuitous with some very narrow doors - which was a huge problem for this family.
and the 'after' - the interiors were completely opened up from the front of the house through the back of the house. here is the open interior looking towards the front of the house:
and this is the same space looking towards the backyard:
we were very deliberate in our alignments in this home, too - to get to a very reductive simplicity takes a ton of designing. there are a few spots where these alignments really worked out beautifully. i love this shot of the guest bedroom, it's so peaceful:
it's a gorgeous project, and such a departure from the original home. wow!
