To expand this character home, the Architect elected to juxtapose a new modern extension that was extruded out of the existing 3-storey craftsman home, intending them to stand as integrated opposites. The addition used both void and solid techniques to increase indoor and outdoor spaces, while maximizing the visual and architectural impact. From the street this home blends into the neighbourhood as if never being altered, while the clean modernist exterior hides privately in the back.
To upgrade this house required working with the existing floor elevations, which meant the assemblies for the addition needed to be slim. The floor and deck for the addition are compressed to maintain usable height underneath by doubling joists and LVL's for a cantilevered stair platform without losing height below. The partially-below grade basement was accentuated as a feature with a courtyard depressed into the yard. The addition was woven into the existing with new and old blending seamlessly together both inside and out.
