SALA Architects
salaarc.com

Eric Odor, AIA

Barn Yard

Project Type: Remodel & Addition

Sponsors: Showcase Renovations (builder), Synergy (windows)

This is a story of how a major remodel with a minor addition to a small house, on a big lot, will enable an aging couple to retire in the neighborhood they dearly love in the harmony that they deserve. It ends with 1800 square feet, but it all started with a 20 square foot powder room. 

The owners always wanted a half bath on the main level so that they and their dinner guests wouldn’t have to haul themselves up the original 120-year-old stairs to visit the one and only bathroom in the house on the second floor. But with only 790 square feet on the first floor there simply wasn’t any place to park it, let alone a discrete one, so the kitchen had to move. This would enable a water closet to get tucked away in a new circulation “pantry” where the old kitchen used to be.

The new kitchen moved toward the sunset to mate with an existing orchid room producing one large alcove of Douglas fir and glass facing the expansive backyard a story below; a treehouse for exotic blooms and culinary exercise. This one-two satisfied the half bath problem, now it was time to address the real issue, aging in place.

Once the kitchen moved west to the face of the orchid room it made sense to similarly expand the basement as a new foundation was needed, and to go up as well to incorporate an additional bathroom in this “barn” extrusion. These choices allowed for a basement office “in the garden” for one and a bedroom conversion on the second floor into an office/guest room for the other.

The final piece of the puzzle was a spot in the elbow of the L-shaped stair where a future one-story open glass lift could connect the first and second stories should stairs become too large an obstacle for either one of this couple. They now look forward to aging in place in their still small house, with its still big yards, in the neighborhood they love, together…and apart.

Framework for Design Excellence: Design for Well-being

This project focused on Design for Well-Being, emphasizing the reuse and improvement of an existing 1905 Minneapolis home for an elderly couple wishing to age in place in the community they love. The work provided this 1800 square foot home with an open plan that lives large as well as nourishing personal retreats so that it lives small as well. A minor addition and a major remodel to this urban dwelling enhanced its exposure to the exterior gardens and the interior orchids as well as providing front and a screened porches to connect with the neighbors passing by.

What is the AIA Framework for Design Excellence? Learn more »