Projects

Suburban Home Renovation

Vaulted House is an extensive renovation to an existing single-story suburban single-family residence.

The existing home was a suburban single-story home that was large but felt confined due to low ceilings and multiple enclosed rooms with undefined purposes.  The original house was constructed in the early 60’s in a style would likely have been labeled “ranch” because it was too low and horizontally proportioned be Classical, but too timid to be Modernist with elements of classical ornamentation.  The design reimagined the home to lean into some of its existing modern patterns with additional complimentary contemporary components and elimination some of the unneeded ornamentation felt gratuitous.
The renovated home provides a dramatic change from the original common/communal spaces (Kitchen, Living, Dining, sitting rooms) with a raised ceiling throughout and a vaulted ceiling over the central Living Room spaces that are visible through most of the house. It takes a very-confined Kitchen, expands it and visually integrates the space with the other (communal) spaces.  The garage is converted to an attached pool cabana, that faces a new pool that is raised (3’) to that same level as the home.  A new attached garage is provided.  The design largely retains the location of the original 4 bedrooms with a full renovation to the primary closet, bathroom and closet and cosmetic renovation to the other spaces.

Vaulted House Renovation

Bienville House

Lakeshore Renovation

Camel Back Addition and Renovation

Camelback in Black is a contemporary two-story addition to the rear of a preserved early 20th-century New Orleans Shotgun Duplex Home (a two-story mass to the rear is referred to as "Camelbacks" in New Orleans).  The difference in material aesthetic between the historic and new was done intentionally to give a clear reading of the massing that was true to the original.  Because the lot and original building are particularly short (the lot is only 60 feet deep) a blended approach to the rear and 2nd story addition would not only create a false sense of history (about the massing) but would have looked mis-proportioned for a traditional Camelback.

The project offered the unique opportunity to design a home for the owner who grew up there as a child and inherited the property as the third generation.  They held many fond memories of the existing home, but their need for the property to be useful as a primary residence with a long-term residential unit as supplemental income meant the home needed updating and expansion.  

Camelback Addition and Renovation

Front Porch Addition

Some of the basic project goals were to create a large private deck connected to the 2nd floor unit and a separate enclosed outdoor space below linked to the 1st floor unit suitable for large gatherings and a secure parking space when needed. The addition needed to also include an external stair so that a stair inside the existing duplex could be removed. Removing this (internal) stair would free up a lot of valuable space allowing for the improved reconfiguration of both the 1st and 2nd floors.

Rather than seeing the project as several tacked-on elements working in disharmony with the existing façade, NFA sought to unify them with cohesive, organizing elements that could serve as a new front façade re-defining the street presence of the building as a whole. The idea was for the porch to appear as a balloon framed exoskeleton that surrounded the addition with a consistent veil, creating privacy and a dynamic visual experience that varies from opaque at acute angles to more transparent at perpendicular ones. It allows for both privacy and public (longer distance) views from the interior, shifting your range of focus based on need (or desire) from privacy. For the project to remain on budget, most of the material was dimension lumber with painted (black) #1 grade used as the perimeter framing and key elements highlighted in clear stained cedar behind at the floor perimeter, the stairs and framed openings.

Saturated Backyard Renovation

The backyard of this home was in rough shape. There was a neglected kidney shape pool, a small storage shed, inconsistent ground cover and a collection of 4 different fences wrapping the perimeter. Broadly speaking, the goal of the homeowners was to transform the space from one that repelled them to one that drew them to being outside for improved metal and physical wellness. The specific uses they wanted to achieve this goal were a new cabana with multiple functions (including a home gym, shaded lounge space, dining space, and a small outdoor kitchen), a renovated pool and consistent landscaping with a more cohesive design. 

Backyard Renovation

The owners knew they wanted to create spaces in their backyard that be useful and encourage them to be outside more often, but because their backyard space is so massive the scope and size of the project was initially difficult to define. After a few initial rounds of design, the project ended up creating a series of spaces near their house and pool rather than try to utilize the entirety of their yard. 
The existing pool was situated in proximity (and almost entirely aligned) to a detached garage. The garage was perfectly useful for parking cars, but nothing special Architecturally and certainly not functionally associated with the pool. The cabana would have been too far away from the main home if it were located on the opposite side of pool and would have been too large and visually obtrusive if arrange to the side of the pool. The design of the cabana was conceived as an addition to the garage that more appropriately capped the end of the pool with an openable space that could be used for cooking, lounging in the shade poolside, or playing games in with the space itself. There wasn’t enough space between the garage and pool to contain all the uses they wanted, so an additional shade structure with a dining space and a fire pit with build-in benches was included to the project, located near their existing living room.
Board formed concrete walls were used as a common element between the shade structure and the cabana. The base used as a planter wall and back to the bench in the shade structure is maintained in the base of cabana to develop aesthetic cohesion between the two spaces. The cabana engages a build in bar to a series of folding glass walls for compact efficient use. The interior of the cabana had to maintain the existing garage roofline for structural stability, but the interior is vaulted to the highest extent possible. The interior of the vault is lined with wood to frame the space for visual clarity enhancing transparency.
A goal of the project was to make a vast backyard more useful at a walkable scale by creating outdoor spaces close to each other and the existing living areas in and around the home. Rather than attempt to encapsulate the entire backyard it creates density around the edges that look onto the backyard. Because the spaces engage with the existing conditions the space has become a much-used outdoor living space.
(Photos of After Construction Conditions by Sara Essex Bradley)

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