Before O’Neill Rose Architects took on this project, the client—a contractor the firm often works with—was living with his mother, brother and sister-in-law in an older, smaller house previously owned by his father-in-law. It was a less than ideal situation for the busy family.

“He wanted to make a space that would work for the whole extended family but have each piece have its own identity and presence on the property, so they could feel like it was theirs as it was still tied in with something else,” partner Devin O’Neill says.

Tasked with creating a brand new structure that would house three separate groups of people with very different personalities, the firm devised an unconventional scheme that would be composed of three unique units joined together beneath one roof, with areas of overlap and connection. Each unit has a slightly different visual scheme, to “generate the character of who was living in the space.”