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This project is located in the Providence District of Fairfax County outside of Washington D.C. The neighborhood is representative of typical 1950's development patterns with single family homes situated on relatively small (under 10,000 square feet) lots with the houses sited toward the rear. Over the past 5-10 years, this neighborhood has undergone social and economic changes.
The design and layout of the existing house is also based on the outdated 1950's notion of the Nuclear Family; consisting of a working father, a stay at home mom, and two children. Our design modifications to the existing house are the resultant of the reinvented nuclear family and its specific programmatic needs. The 1400 square foot, three bedroom, 1-bathroom existing house was insufficient to provide the room that this 3-generational family needed.
The programmatic changes for the house include a new dining room, a master bedroom suite with office, a second office, screened-in porch, and mother-in-law-suite complete with kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living area, all accessible for an elderly individual. Our proposal blurs the edge between public and private by projecting the dining room and terrace into the realm of the semi-public. The two ground floor volumes are defined by two continuous planer elements. In the dining room and office it begins with a built-in desk, becomes the horizontal floor plane and terminates into an outdoor patio and planter. For the in-law suite, this vertical plane wraps the space, retaining the earth to contain the volume, and terminates as garden wall and steps. The divisions, both material and spatial, between new and old are blurred.
The penetration through the existing house reinforces the conceptual inversion of the public/private realms. The placement of large windows that overlook the patio towards the street strengthens the desire to allow the dining room and front yard to participate within the public realm. In addition, the mother-in-law suite has a large aperture that opens to the screened porch and the front yard beyond engaging in the dialogue of the public realm.
The existing carport has been transformed into a screened in porch, necessitated both culturally and climatically in the Virginian summer. The porch is attached to the front of the house, rather than the rear, to engage in the public domain. The porch creates opportunities for neighbors to interact reengaging the house with the public realm.