• Proposed Design (Interactive Plans & Views)
• Design Development
• Image of Existing Home
• Credits

Design Challenge

The challenge of this project was to double the size of a 1,000 sq. ft. single-story bungalow into a 2,000 sq. ft. three-story live-work home. Stringent zoning restrictions set caps upon outward expansion into a large, but ultimately legally unusable front yard in front of the house, as well as height restrictions, thus impeding the renovation, which was precipitated by the need to provide significant additional space for two young children.

Design Solution

The design proposed to extend the existing volume of the house towards an adjacent, heavily-wooded ravine. Through an excavation between the existing house and this ravine a partially sunken “courtyard” is created beside the formerly-subterranean basement, thus allowing that dark space to now be filled with light and air for bedrooms and a new office, which then both can view the ravine and access immediately the outdoors via the new courtyard. A new loft-space for a master-bedroom suite is created by the design of a rectilinear volume whose height matches that of the ridge of the former sloped roof, thus complying with municipal height restrictions.