The semi-detached home was brilliantly reconceptualized, reconfigured and completely rebuilt.
Architecture: Maria Ibanez + Todd Rouhe – IDSR Architecture
Construction: Northeast Contracting
Mechanical: Jack Green Associates
Structural Engineer: Rodney Gibble & Associates
Landscape Design + Installation: Field Form
Photography: Don Freeman

Project description (by Todd Rouhe, Architect):
By combining historical preservation, cultural influences, modern design elements, and energy-efficient infrastructure, this semi-detached apartment dwelling, originally built in 1925, was transformed into a single-family residence that embraces the vibrant and eclectic character of its surroundings.

The renovation updates the interior of the 279 m / 3000 sf house while maintaining the original details of the building and incorporating the heterogeneous mix of styles present in the adjacent buildings (including the Amtrak viaduct to the Hell’s Gate Bridge). After removing gas and oil energy sources from the house it has been re-connected to the electrical grid along with a roof-top solar array. High-efficiency heat pumps condition interior fan-coil units on an individual basis while energy recovery ventilators continuously supply the habitable space with filtered, conditioned, fresh air.

The minimally designed interior responds to daily routines of the family of four. The program includes office and exercise space in the cellar with study areas in each of the children’s bedrooms. The family room opens to an elevated modern garden designed and built by Field Form, who integrated a drainage and dry well system with the capacity to manage a 50-year storm.

Incorporated into the crisp, white interior architecture is a vibrant mix of bold colors, sumptuous textiles, vintage Moroccan and Turkish  carpets, custom, antique and modern Scandinavian and Italian furniture and lighting fixtures.