This story was originally published in Dwell’s October 2010 issue.

“The first floor was about making something warm and woody that would blend into the natural environment,” architect Stephen Chung says of his Wayland, Massachusetts, home. “The second floor was a chance to experiment.” After the original single-story structure was completed (and published in Dwell’s September 2003 issue), his burgeoning business demanded domestic office space; it was time to expand.

Chung’s modernist take on suburban New England living didn’t exactly align with the prevailing colonial and Cape Cod aesthetic that dotted the block, but he managed to prove to the local board of appeals that there was no definitive, cohesive style in the area, which allowed him free architectural reign—“So long as I could find a way to reduce its visual impact.”

Rather than risk alienating the neighbors, Chung made a clever concession: The addition would directly reflect their traditional tastes while simultaneously embodying his own. Mirrored siding and plate-glass windows make the second-story, 1,100-square-foot adjunct—which accommodates an office/studio, primary suite, and fort for his two young boys—disappear seamlessly between the foliage and gabled roofs nearby.