Text details provided by architects. Designing is about making orders by reducing abundant possibilities in conscious options. On approaching a building, we start considering what can be preserved, then quick victory. Major interferences are made only when they provide value on several fronts. Our focus is on balance, simplicity and efficiency, intervention only when necessary. This approach reduces new physical use and creates financial space for architectural creativity.
Creativity through boundary – Good elements should be given another life. Despite the need for a complete renewal, customers agreed to limit our intervention to the surface, handling the rest themselves. This freed the budget for more creative decisions. Discovery of unused capacity -The width-fed mask and the width of the 6.45 meter building, which were not fully used, were important for design. The roof, while in good condition, was too small to be functional. An intervention with high effects – The existing extension was replaced by a grid of the beam and column, with a glass mask in the middle. This adds the intervention value: reducing the internal-hatred division, allowing more evening sun, expanding roofs, and increasing the relationship with the garden. The slope of the extension maximizes northern light, without overheating, gives the house a cool, airy environment.
Balanced mask composition – At the end of a row of the house equal houses, the details of the subtle brick around the front door. We chose not to interrupt the unity of the road by adding external insulation. Instead, we made subtle changes to increase the existing mask. We reduced the ground-floor window to improve the relationship with the neighborhood. West-supporting mask, shaded by trees from a nearby park, benefits from better insulation, with a finish using a simple ETIC system that matches the texture of the front facade. Extension and joinry – opaque and clear material – The combination of steel and concrete in the beams and columns of the extension balances the balance of the existing house on a large scale with new glass facade. Joinery has gray anodized aluminum, complemented by red-brown wooden accents, adding heat to the design.
Limited interior finish – Existing roofs and walls were taken away to highlight raw concrete slabs and bricks. Together with the client, we carefully selected areas for plaster, which exposed the new structure. The floor was slightly raised to accommodate underfallor heating, which ended in light brown mortures. The kitchen material follows a consistent color palette, with cabinet doors, interior doors and garage doors with strengthened glass. The design maintains balance, complementing terazo countertop in red-brown wooden accents. The shapes are coordinated, (semi) match the curve of the island with round doors. The interior, a mixture of new and secondhand items, was cautiously curated by the client, with color accents that increase the overall palette.
Funny expansion – The cat dish and the front door bridge is made from the cutout of the Terrazo countertop.
