Our clients came to us wanting a home to allow them to age in place. They wanted a home nearby their family. They wanted a home that was efficient and resilient allowing them to weather ever increasing energy costs and natural disasters alike. 

While the original project was to design a new home on a  newly partitioned lot difficulties with the partition led our clients to look for other options. Ultimately they settled on buying an existing house that could be  remodeled to suit their needs. The small brick house adjacent to the original lot seemed to be the right place. 

A review of the existing house quickly revealed that everything must go. The existing rooms were too small and the house was too chopped up to meet needs. Further exploration revealed that the brick walls were actual bearing walls with only the scantest of space between the brink and the gypsum board finish inside. This lead the team to determine that the exterior walls must go as well which lead to removing the entire roof too. In the end that was proved a good decision. When the walls were removed, it was discovered that they were entirely unreinforced and could not have provided the earthquake security the client wanted. All that remained of the old house were the concrete basement stem walls.

These choices and decisions opened up options. The new walls would be wood framed with all of the insulation located on the outside the structure, a method of construction that allows for continuous insulation without thermal breaks. This system was even continued up onto the new roof. This method allows the house to be well sealed which improved performance. New thermally broken European aluminum windows and doors help complete the high performance envelope. 

Inside, the new rooms are configured to take advantage of one another in order to make the small house feel and live larger than the house’s diminutive size. Shared views to the outside further this strategy. Doors a all wide enough to allow for ease of use for a lifetime and all the primary spaces are arranged on the main floor.