Renovations

The ladder from the kitchen leads to this "sleeping box," a tucked-away room perfect for visiting relatives, or as Heierle discovered during a trip to work on the project, visiting architects. When light streams through the skylight and down into the hallway below, it adds an "almost mystic element," says Heierle.

By foregoing a fixed dining table in favor of a large American walnut wood countertop by Cuisine Elysee, the couple is able to enjoy a open space with a clear view of the back of the house and the garden terrace outside.

The entrance level’s master bedroom has engineered oak floors and a full wall of built-in closets.

The carport leads to the entrance.

Light streams into the bedroom through walls of floor-to-ceiling glass. The windows are triple-glazed, creating a tight, eco-friendly seal.

The second-floor office is housed inside a rounded rectangle of concrete that the architect inserted on top of the old farmhouse.

"The most challenging part of the design was fusing the old part of the house with the new addition," says principal architect Alex Terry. The character and architectural integrity of the single-level 1950s ranch house was thoughtfully reconsidered during the addition and remodel. The home’s front porch, typical of the period, was refreshed with Ipe decking and railing.

The duo added custom redwood cabinetry on the dining area side. The pendants are from Birchwood Lighting.

Although little was done to alter the building’s original form, the firm did demolish an extension that was the site of a mechanical plant. This alteration allowed for an outdoor deck covered with timber decking by Chemisys Group.

A family in Hamburg, Germany, turned a kitschy turn-of-the-century villa into a high-design home with a few exterior tricks, including sheathing the exterior in one-dimensional, murdered-out black.

The home’s interior design, featured in Vogue and widely celebrated, was an unusual foray into residential surrealism by Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret.

“When you’re working on something inexpensive and then decide you don’t like it, fine. You’re not tearing down millions of kroners worth of work.” —Mette Lyng Hansen

Originally designed by locally renowned architect Arthur Dallas Stenger, this 1960s home featured an unusual awning that was maintained during a 21st-century upgrade by architects Rick and Cindy Black. The architects partially reconfigured the interior layout, updated the kitchen, and added new doors to the porch, all the while making sure the adjustments to the house honored its midcentury provenance while still avoiding creating a time capsule.

He added floor-to-ceiling windows by Andersen, which allow low winter sunlight to warm the interior in colder months.

The cooktop and oven are Miele, the counter-top is Caesarstone, and the refrigerator is Liebherr.

The couple’s white Bulthaup kitchen is set within a double-height volume hung with Tom Dixon Beat lights, arranged in a custom configuration by interior designer Maria Rosa Di Ioia. Overhead, Cubit shelving artfully displays books and objects, accessible by a glass-walled footbridge added during the renovation.