The design largely leaves distinguishing external features of the original house in place, replacing a limited swath of the facade with a contemporary, glassy, operable, three-story chunk of architecture. This primary intervention, oriented toward a private yard, adjacent tree canopy, and distant downtown skyline, is located on the side of the house, leaving historic features intact on the most public facades. Other exterior modifications are limited to discretely cut-in, trim-less sheets of glass at points critical for daylight balance.

The project navigates a mathematical limit on the area of the existing structure that can be modified without triggering a potentially destructive seismic upgrade. To this end, a limited area of existing exterior wall, already out-of-plane with the foundation and primary envelope, is modified. What appears to be an addition is essentially a bay window. While adding virtually no square footage; the new window bay is composed to benefit every level of the house — connecting to each floor as it climbs the house vertically from the dining room, up to a new master suite, terminating with the new studio office on the third floor.

Sidelight from the window bay is then balanced with a new light shaft at the core of the house, bringing light from above and increasing acoustical porosity. Credits: Owen Gabbert OGLLC, Jeremy Parrish Structural Edge Credits: - Structural Edge - Jeremy Parrish - OGLLC - Owen Gabbert