Rockridge House Lift
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Our body of Rockridge architecture includes this home originally constructed as a one story, two bedroom bungalow. Our clients loved their neighborhood as well as many details from the existing building. However, they needed a bigger home to accommodate their growing family. Living in a very busy, popular neighborhood, they also wanted off-street parking.
We knew we needed to add another floor. After some early sketches, we realized the best strategy was to lift the existing house and build a new floor below. If the addition is large enough, lifting a house can be a good approach to renovations. In this case, the lot was relatively narrow. We did not want to locate the new garage and the living spaces (living room, dining room, kitchen) on the same floor. The space required for the garage left little adjacent space to be used for a living room or entry. That narrow space, however, was great for storage and a bicycle repair station.
Beyond space planning needs, we wanted to preserve the existing roofline and entry porch. The roofline and the covered porch are classic elements of Rockridge architecture that give the building its distinct character. By lifting the house, we left the roof and entry porch intact.
Because the entry is now located at the second floor level, we had to find a way to make the entry stairs fit with the building. We didn’t want too many stairs leading to the porch. It would look wrong and be tiring to traverse.
We did a combination of things to minimize the length of the stair run. We started by excavating down for our first floor to a level slightly below the elevation of the sidewalk. By doing this, we saved three steps. Then, we introduced another three steps up as part of the front yard landscape design. By the time one reaches the entry stairs, one is 3 feet above the garage level and, thus, fewer stairs are needed to reach the entry.
The building is organized with a foyer, living room, dining room, kitchen and family room at this upper floor. The kitchen and family room open up onto a generous rear yard deck. A new staircase connects the top floor to a mudroom at the first floor. We designed the staircase to bring light down to the lower floor. The mudroom leads to the garage and a hallway facing three bedrooms. We placed the master bedroom below the upstairs deck to open into the garden.
We reused existing trim work and replicated it in new areas. Because we wanted to retain some of the old house, we even repurposed the existing dining room cabinet as an entertainment cabinet in the living room.
Rockridge Architecture – A Successful House Lift
As is frequently the case with our work, we combined traditional details with open, visually connected spaces. One can see from the entry through the entire house to the back yard. Overall, our renovation fits in seemlessly with the neighboring Rockridge architecture.