Our client wanted to reconstruct and extend an existing bungalow to suit a family of five. The project was conceived as a sustaining in life, rather than simply a sustaining of life. The resulting two-story house aims to quietly recognize and dissolve spatial, material and social relationships embedded in conventional ways of living.

The open door policy of the clients led us to create an open and expansive floor plan as well as allow the exterior into the interior of the house. Interior glass between bedrooms on the second floor allows parents and children alike to share light from clerestory windows. Gapped decking runs co-planar from the exterior decks into the interior corridors. Glazing is set high on the upper floor to amplify the presence of the Eastern white pines on the property, and lower than usual on the ground floor to focus on the greenery on the perimeter of the property. 

Working with a tight budget, the use of existing materials and maintaining of the existing footprint was essential. Constraints were turned into opportunities to question convention. An open kitchen with high shelving, for example, both eliminates cabinetry and discourages clutter