Site + Space

The home’s program is split between two structures, each completing one arm of the L shape, and connected by an enclosed, second-story bridge.

"The family are very close-knit with a lot of nostalgia for a cottage that their grandparents once owned. Things like cedar shakes, painted pine paneling, handmade bed quilts, and ceramic tiles reminiscent of quilt patterns bring those memories back. The clients' children are now young parents with contemporary taste and needs, so the design had to feel youthful," says Hope.

"Stitching the existing white weatherboard cottage into its more robust industrial surrounds, the new addition uses brick work painted white at the first level to connect to the white weatherboard and then black at the top level to engage with the local industrial precinct," say the architects.

For Bret and Dani Stone’s house in Santa Barbara, California, Barber Builders erected a concrete-and-steel ground level capable of supporting a second story made mostly of shipping containers. While the project as a whole took 19 months, the containers were craned into place in a single day in 2016.

In the shower, handmade Bubble Hex tile from the Futura collection at the Portland–based company Clayhaus Tile makes a stunning statement.

"A steep or unstable site can make it difficult and costly to seismically retrofit a structure, or stabilize the site,” says Thomas Schaer at SHED Architecture and Design, a Seattle-based firm with extensive experience in adaptive reuse, as well as midcentury remodel. “There also may be land-use code provisions that limit or prevent development on the lot."

The original house is shaped like an L, with a butterfly roof. The architects first took note of Emery's key material moves, which include the white-framed windows, a brick foundation, and dark hardwood cladding on the exterior.

For the renovation of their midcentury ranch house in Chicago, Trey Berre and his wife, Maria Ponce Berre, compared bids from three contractors, ultimately hiring ABO Construction. The total budget for the project climbed to $174 per square foot after it was discovered that the roof had suffered rain damage and needed to be replaced for $40,000.

Exterior

When current homeowner Joseph Amory purchased 3322 Ocotea Street in 2014, the 1959 residence’s midcentury plan had been corrupted. Undaunted, Amory enlisted In Situ Studio to modernize the 3,400-square-foot dwelling while preserving its midcentury roots.