Location, Location, Location!

Written by Catarina Ferreira, AIA

On a project completed a couple of years ago, we had the opportunity to reinvent a classic center hall colonial home, likely the most common house type in the Washington DC metro area. This one happened to be located in DC’s Kalorama neighborhood, on a very desirable site nestled into Rock Creek Park. However, the cookie-cutter home did little to engage with its site conditions. Like many spec homes built nowadays, spec homes built 100 years ago were no better; they were repeated throughout entire neighborhoods with little recognition of site conditions, no matter how beautiful. Our interventions needed to be both precise and effective.

Early on, we identified several problems/missed opportunities: 

1. Compartmentalized spaces limited access to natural light and views.
2. Kitchen was small and disconnected from other living spaces.
3. There was no mudroom, entry from driveway led directly into kitchen.
4. Sunroom space was oddly shaped and unusable, disconnected from other spaces, and blocked views of park from living room.
5. There was only one bedroom on entire second floor.
6. There was no laundry room on bedroom level.

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The pivotal decision in this case was moving the kitchen to the prior dining room area, something that was not immediately obvious would be the right move to our clients, as it required the dining room to be moved to the unappealing sunroom. In order to improve  relationships between spaces, several interior walls had to be removed, as well as a portion of the exterior wall separating the sunroom from the living room.

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The rest of the layout fell into place easily.  We created a mudroom where the kitchen had been previously located, added a second door to the powder room to make it accessible from both the mudroom and entry hall sides, enlarged/added windows in the new kitchen and living room areas, added a new pocket door connecting the living room and library spaces. Now we had a layout we could ‘roller skate around in,’ as is often my goal. There was improved functionality, flow, access to light and views. From the front door, we now had an unobstructed path to the windows facing the park on the opposite side of the house.

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On the second floor, what had been an enormous, labyrinth-like primary suite became a primary suite with private bath and dressing room, two additional bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a laundry closet.

On both levels, the house’s history is still legible. Some of the original elements were maintained and refurbished, altered slightly without erasing their character completely: the main stair and balustrade, the fireplace, some of the original decorative trims. 

The end result has a slight Scandinavian/Japandi flair, with a composed yet informal, inviting quality throughout. The new dining room is everyone’s favorite space in the house.

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Architecture: ARCHI-TEXTUAL, PLLC/Catarina Ferreira, AIA

Detailed Kitchen design and procurement: ARCHI-TEXTUAL, PLLC

Construction: Midas Construction

Photography: ifocus Photos

Read more here.