Exterior

A geometric glass entry gate leads to the rear unit, which comes with its own address.

A geometric glass entry gate leads to the rear unit, which has its own address.

A rain chain comes down on the west side of the house, where the Linns use the space between the fence and the building as an entry court to greet visitors or just get some fresh air with their son.

Three of the house’s walls are finished in cork on the lower level, and the upper portion of all the walls is clad in poplar bark from lumber cut in the Appalachian Mountains. The bark would typically have been a waste product in the timber-harvesting process.

Architects William Ruhl and Sandra Jahnes turned Paula Chauncey’s Cambridge office into a live/work space with a new second floor for bedrooms, a bathroom, and a library.

"We made the pool an L-shape to mimic the form of the home,

The open galley kitchen flows seamlessly into the living room. The joinery is hoop-pine plywood, which echoes the materiality of the ceiling and walls.

A balcony adjoins one of the secondary bedrooms.

The house is clad in Western red cedar.

For the exterior, a mix of materials work together: the brick of the new house, the weatherboard of the previous house, and a timber screen to connect them. "It’s a link between old and new," says Welsch.

The exterior of the home, with its playful sprinkle of blue and white bricks, matches the interior finish, creating a connection between indoors and outdoors.