T h e G o o d a l l A d d i t i o n
This addition to a 1923 bungalow in downtown Raleigh was designed to be a highly flexible space in order to house multiple functions for a family of four. The program required that it accommodate dining, living, office, laundry, bathing, sleeping, and storage, all in a 650 s.f. addition.
The Goodalls had moved into this 1000 s.f. bungalow as a young couple. Two children and one dog later, living had become cramped. They needed an addition, but it had to to be efficient if it was to take up precious land on their 50'x130' city lot.
The intention was to add on in a way that would maintain the integrity of the original bungalow and honor the memory of the much-used backyard patio that would be lost to the new construction.
Before
After
We chose, then, to design the addition as a kind of interior outdoor space or plaza, with two houses facing into it: the "Tatami House" ...
and the "Original House," each sided in exterior horizontal siding, giving an ambiguous indoor/outdoor quality to the space between them. The facade of the original bungalow was preserved, including the existing exterior windows and doors.
One corner of the new large space accommodates an office area,
and opposite sits a dining niche.
A glass slit separates old from new,
washing the siding with afternoon sunlight.
The concrete floor, with radiant tubing embedded, is reminiscent of the patio that was previously there.
The concrete rises up to form a base for the upper level tatami room,
and is sculpted to form entrance steps to the "Tatami House."
The challenge was how to add private spaces (a bedroom and bath) to the back of the house without blocking light, view and access to the backyard. Could a space be both public and private?
We chose to treat the bedroom as a space that could accommodate private use at night and other uses during the day. A "tatami" ( a Japanese floor mat) room offered the flexibility we wanted.
We designed a window seat cabinet for easy storage of a futon bed, and shoji screens that slide out for privacy or disappear for openness.
What might have been a solid box was now open, providing a place for yoga, after sauna relaxing and fish pond viewing, or as it turned out, a performance stage for the kids. The ability to open up this private bedroom to other functions, as well as to light, view and access, is key to making this small house feel spacious.
The loft allows you to inhabit the high volume of the room and gives new use and access to the walk-in attic. A private getaway with a unique view of life below, it is a great place for reading, study, or looking into treetops through south-facing windows that pop up over the existing roof.
A slatted loft floor allows light from below to shine through at night and sunlight from the clerestorey windows to cast down during the day. In a similar way, slats at the "Tatami House" wall cast patterns of light and shadow.
On such a tight lot, outdoor spaces are just as important as the indoor ones. With an adjacent patio and wrap-around deck, doors can be flung open and interior spaces spill outside.
A deep overhang allows sitting on the narrow deck outside the tatami room, protected from rain.
Inside transitions easily to outside.
Sliding glass doors and a concrete wall which extends out make the shower and bathroom continuous with the adjacent bathing/sauna garden outside.
Cast into the concrete shower wall is a window,
that washes the wall with sunlight,
and frames a private view of the big oak tree in the neighbor's yard.
Hidden behind sliding plywood panels, held in place with a simple wooden peg,
sits the stacked washer/dryer. Shelves above provide storage accessible from both sides. A small sorting counter and laundry hamper sit opposite. By discreetly tucking this laundry niche in the corner of the larger room and hiding it from view, it can co-exist with more public uses, saving valuable square footage.
Like the bedroom, the bathroom functions as both a private and semi-public space.
Organized along a hallway, there is easy access through it to the hot tub/sauna garden.
When needed, a frosted glass door slides out from behind the toilet to make it a private space.
From front to back, the house is a story of transformation, growing and changing as the family has. Layers of history mark your passage through it, from original, to modified original, to new.
See the Construction Diary for a brief overview of the construction process.