The need to expand an existing 1940s single family suburban house required a surgical renovation addition to minimize the intervention to optimize the structural and material expenditures providing both new square footage and better overall planning to the collective design and layout of the house.

The existing house was configured with a front garage accessed through a side entry requiring the front yard to become an arcing driveway. The prominence of the vehicle marginalized the entry and foregrounded the concrete of the driveway. The setback required for vehicular access provided ample space for expansion on a single level (to avoid upgrading the dated foundations of the original construction) while remaining within the setbacks. The garage reconfigured to a front entry shortened the driveway and providing an opportunity for the addition to complete the staggered geometry of the house. The addition, (typically on the rear of the house), by occurring on the front, allowed for a re-evaluation of the house style and established a new street face, architectural identity and overall roofline.

The roof, as a single asymmetrical fold with deep eaves allowed for an overarching gesture that gathered the room beneath. The roof slope emerging from the west face of the existing hip roof, allowed for a salvage of the majority of the existing structure. The asymmetrical ridge provided an increased height over the addition allowing for vaulted ceilings. A central, double height, wood clad tower is a light snorkel created a new entry and a central organizing hall. The flooring sliding from inside to out creates a connectivity of flow and establishes a new datum height for the entire house. Episodic and choreographed skylights allow for selected perforations in the roof to orchestrate light and view into the associated rooms. A rain garden along the west face gathers the collected water and filters into the landscape. The roof extends over the irregular back of the existing house to create a vaulted covered porch off the master suite.

The two children bedrooms take on a vaulted symmetrical house form, with lofted ceilings. A skylight centered over the bed allows for star gazing as they fall asleep. Closets are used to insulate sound for adjoin rooms. A corner window opens the front bedroom to the newly fenced yard framing the activity of the street.

The driveway was segmented into a series of floating pavers. The middle paver slides longer to establish a pedestrian entry that starts a terracing a stair to the front porch. A setback beneath the large overarching roof allowed for a planter box and roof aperture over a covered recessed porch before entering the glass doorway into the double height light snorkel.