Before: “I felt like it was in a park setting,” says Rogers. “I don't think I've ever worked on a site that beautiful before in the East Bay. It’s very unusual to have those kinds of features in such a large site.”
The existing space had too few windows and an uneven ceiling height.
When architect Olivier Lekien redesigned a Paris apartment in the 11th arrondissement, he discovered a system of wood columns and beams that separated the kitchen-and-dining area from the living room.
The boxy room shows needed substantial structural and cosmetic work to create a visually calm and cohesive feel.
Removing the partition wall between the bedroom and the former closet opened the master bedroom up to what would become the bathing area, extending the sense of space and the making the room feel larger and brighter. The beam in the ceiling was also raised to extend the feeling of spaciousness.
The new bedroom is a bright, open space with views to mature trees and distant views to Lake Ontario. "T
The original home was converted into a bedroom level, and given a second-story addition and roof deck. The dark exterior color, a charcoal-eggplant hue, lets the landscape colors stand out in contrast. “The existing house roof became the roof deck,” says Rogers. “And then I just shifted over the addition so that it floated over the landscape.”
The original wood columns and beams create a more open feel and flood the spaces with natural light. "The kitchen looks out over the courtyard, which acts as a light well and provides ventilation,
The entire home is wrapped in pine tongue-and-groove, which matches the original finish on the ceiling.
"We try to find the straightest line between two points," explains architect Andrew Fischer. "We always want to edit down, and be efficient with space."
Before: A dark passageway connected the choppy rooms.
Lambert & Fils lights are suspended over the island.
Exterior portrait of owners Michael and Amiee
"In some ways the strongest attributes of the house are probably the outside spaces,” says Court. The original cedar deck was replaced with Kebony decking that wraps around a century-old cherry tree. A pair of Andy rockers from Mamagreen face an ottoman by Kenneth Cobonpue. The accordion doors are a NanaWall SL-60 system that allows the main room of the guesthouse to open completely to the deck.
The firm preserved many key features of the 1,100-square-foot loft, including the beautifully textured ceiling.
Before: The basic form of the seven traditional buildings was retained.
The front garden area is terraced with custom Cor-Ten steel retaining walls with an oxidized patina. The plantings are inspired by the couple’s love for Palm Springs.
With a new baby on the way and the soon-to-be grandmother moving in, Seattleites Ilga Paskovskis and Kyle Parmentier asked Best Practice Architecture to expand their detached garage into a 570-square-foot ADU, which they now call the Granny Pad. “We can see the joy it brings Grandma when the baby comes over to visit,” says Kyle. “It’s the best part of her day.”
At Serenbe, an eco-friendly community outside Atlanta, New Urbanism planning principles were applied to create a live/work community that revolves around a variety of green spaces, including open fields, farmland, and forests.
Outside of Houston, Texas, houses line parallel, curved streets. Photo by Christoph Gielen.
For Tahchieva’s diagram from the Sprawl Repair Toolkit, traditional setbacks are reimagined to reduce dead space. "Why don't we urbanize the frontage of suburban houses and create opportunities for people to have an accessory dwelling unit, which can be a rental, a live/work unit, or a granny flat?" asks Tahchieva.
Got an empty big box store? This proposal suggests planting the parking lot and roof, turning the interior into a greenhouse, and enjoying hyper-local fresh produce.
Brought by Urban Nature, F&S Design Studio and Silverlion Design, Entrepreneurbia sought to reconsider the traditional approach to zoning divisions, which can keep the residential and commercial modes far apart and promote sprawl and car dependence.
For Frog's Dream, an abundance of plants and the installation of wetlands overtake empty suburban homes to clean and filter water.
It's a great time to let kids be a part of the decision-making, if that is age-appropriate, and help set a schedule. Give your child a chance to take the reins and engage in child-led learning.
Furniture is now placed within the confines of the platform to create a defined seating area.
The tile-clad addition to this existing home in Yangqing, China hosts the entry, dining room, and kitchen.
Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, houses 800 trees in addition to its human residents. Pronounced balconies make space for large tubs in which the vegetation is planted, and the staggered nature of the balconies allows unhindered growth. The firm undertook a three-year planning process with a team of botanists and ethologists to choose the plant species.
A view of the master bedroom portion of the apartment illustrates how the designers made every square inch of the home multifunctional. The bed platform is surrounded by smart storage, including various drawers, and doubles as a stage for singing or extra seating on movie nights.
The tile-clad addition sits in the former yard of the wedding room, and now hosts the entry, dining room, and kitchen.
After: "This garden buffer area serves as a way to get light inside and also act as an acoustic and privacy barrier from the street," says the firm.
The custom-designed white maple modular coffee table can be kept together as one piece, or separated to form stools or smaller tables. "Each of the four cubes is slightly different, with a storage recess or dividing panel for stowing books, magazines, pillows, or other objects," says Thomas.
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