Cohesive Addition

When the current owners purchased this early-1930’s residence, the home had already been through renovations and additions that detracted from its original Spanish architecture. The client’s program included adding a children’s bedroom wing, expanding the breakfast area into a sitting area, enlarging some of the small, dimly-lit interior areas, and adding a swimming pool and pool house.

The design challenge was to provide renovations and additions in a manner complimentary to the original architecture and corrective of the inappropriate aesthetic of prior renovations. By providing an in-depth analysis of the house’s structural systems and roof profiles, Design Innovation Architects (DIA) was able to provide designs that appear completely original. The bedroom wing addition had a new floor-truss system that clear spanned the entire width of the previous master-bedroom wing addition. A construction sequence was designed so as not to jeopardize the integrity of the space below: the exterior walls and roof structure were constructed first, and the new floor trusses were then dropped in via cuts in the existing roof. Along the west side of the residence, a swimming pool and pool house were added. The pool house includes a sitting area with a fireplace and bar, and is fronted by a colonnade. Nestled among giant mature hardwood trees, they further echo the formality of the original structure.

The program for the old breakfast area and patio calls for enlarging and converting the space into a sitting room and a new breakfast room. DIA’s design incorporated the existing coffered ceiling and skylights while adding a masonry fireplace. To tie in the new wing with the existing residence, a connector leads into an opened work/study area that, in turn, opens onto the central stair.