Platt Builders
Groton, Mass. | plattbuilders.com
Interior designer: Lewis Interiors Boston | Location: Concord, Mass. | Square footage: 1,150 | Project cost: $565,000
Photos: Greg Premru
A family with four soon-to-be teenage girls needed more space to help keep the peace, so the company brought in an architect to figure out how to make the attic livable. The architect came up with an idea to make the roofline a gambrel, which would triple the volume of the existing 5-pitch roof and give each daughter her own space in addition to a home office for the homeowner.
In order to protect the two lower floors of the existing house from water damage, the company developed a plan to pre-build the entire roof system in panels, including five pre-built dormers. With a crew of 14 and an 80-ton crane, it removed the roof in the morning on the first day and framed the floor deck by late afternoon. The next day it assembled the roof and built the gable ends.
Products
Bath tile: AKDO
Bath faucets: Waterworks
Bath sink: Kohler
Bath walls: Philip Jeffries
Toilet: TOTO
Shower: Northbridge Glass
Paint/stain: Farrow & Ball
Bedroom lighting: Serena & Lilly
Office walls: Farrow & Ball
Cabinetry: Platt Cabinetry
Office sink: Kohler
Office faucet: RH
Windows: Pella
Shutters: New England Shutter Mills
Neil Kelly Company
Portland, Ore. | neilkelly.com
Designer: Paul Haigh, AKBD, CAPS | Location: Bend, Ore. | Square footage: 1,957 | Project cost: $400,000
Photos: Steve Spohn
A nature-loving Bend, Oregon, family wanted to create an outdoor space to better enjoy their spectacular river views. They wanted to provide direct access to a covered outdoor space and create a sense of connection between the interior and exterior.
The design team ran into some challenges, such as the unique construction of the existing living room and maintaining the overall balance of the structure while adding more living space. The wall framing proved to be very unconventional. Since they changed the window and door arrangements, they had to make extensive modifications to ensure the structural insulated panels that comprised the roof structure would be adequately supported, as well as the majestic visible beams that they wanted to retain.
The covered deck extending off the living room dramatically expands the living space, with both interior and exterior square footage and extra storage. Yet, the structure does not appear to have been extended or added to. The expansions are sufficiently organic as to appear original. A very sympathetic addition in two directions, although neither is visible from the other. Roof lines have been extended or extruded, exterior finishes matched, and details are used to demonstrate consistency.
Wolf Architects, Inc. & King Builders
Boston, Mass | wolfarchitects.com
Designer: Gary Wolf, FAIA | Location: Weston, Mass. | Square footage: 606 | Project cost: $563,000
Photos: PMC Media Group (bathroom photo taken by Eric Roth)
This addition was part of a large renovation, addition and re-cladding that had the goal of updating and transforming an existing, poorly built 1980s house that was located on a beautiful site. Because the lon-time owners were now empty-nesters looking forward to aging-in-place here, they sought to expand the house enough to create a suite that could accommodate a future live-in healthcare assistant, if needed.
In addition, the wife wanted a sunny room suitable for her multitude of indoor plants. Because an unfinished, uninsulated attic-like storage space existed on the second floor, it was the logical place to target for the creation of the new suite. The deteriorated existing wood siding and windows of the original house required replacement. This condition suggested the re-envisioning of the exterior of the building at the same time it was being expanded.
The massing of the existing house featured an odd, poorly insulated asymmetrical gable roof that sloped so far down on the south side over the existing attic-like area that there was extensive unusable space that required reinvention. In addition to the underutilized attic-like space, other secondary rooms in the house featured poor design, awkward layouts and/or claustrophobic conditions. The existing combination living room/dining room/kitchen space in the center of the house and its adjoining den served the owners’ purposes perfectly well, so the architects needed to work on both sides of these spaces without negatively impacting them.
To satisfy the owners’ goals of being able to age-in-place, the design replaced the second floor’s substandard attic-like space and its low sloping roof with a large open room that the owners could use as a studio until the time when they may need to adapt it for a live-in medical assistant. Adding a sunroom on the south, open on three sides, provides a bright attractive low-maintenance room for the wife’s plants, while its flat roof above provides a roof deck from the studio for views over the attractive property.
Inspired by two neighboring, now-historic international-style houses from 1934 and 1939, the house was reinterpreted with the street-facing expansion becoming a modern design and with distinctive new materials wrapping both old and new wings: charred cedar siding or Shoshugiban on the first floor, and white stucco on the second. Inside, the new studio and the owners’ suite were modernized in the spirit of the exterior, with the same attention to the thoughtful use of materials.
Products
Windows: Pella
Exterior doors: Pella
Door hardware: Omnia
Siding: Cedar
Skylight: Wasco
Gas fireplace: Valor Generator Generac
Bathroom wall panels: Concreate
Bathroom ceiling finish: Porcelanosa
Bathroom floor tile: Retro Soho
Bathroom and study countertops: Silestone
Bathroom and study cabinets: Parsons Kitchens (custom)
Bathroom lighting: Beach lighting
Bathroom sconce: Sonneman Vanity
Bathroom tub: Kohler
Bathroom lavatory: Kohler
Bathroom toilet: Toto
Bathroom tub spout: Grohe
Bathroom faucet: Grohe
Bathroom shower controls: Grohe
Bathroom grab bars: Brizo
Bathroom towel bars: Brizo
Paint: Benjamin Moore
