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.

What are some of the architectural highlights of the finished home?

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.

What were the chief goals of the project?

a. 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.

b. To resist the current inner-ring suburban trend towards demolition of older, smaller homes in favor of new over-scaled ‘farmhouses.’