This project is situated in a Riverdale, New York neighborhood characterized by 1920’s-era houses sited in close proximity to one another. The project proposes a garage/studio addition that delicately considers the Tudor style of the existing home and the scale and context of the neighborhood. The design inserts a simple, wood-sided box that keys in to trim materials found in the existing Tudor house. For the overall form and volume, various combinations of geometric primitives were tested to arrive at a a gable roof whose ridge-line is set on the diagonal, resulting in a massing that is simple and modern, yet sympathetic to the sloping roof lines of the houses within the neighborhood.
The ground level of the addition re-configures parking and utility storage, while the upper level provides a study and family room gathering space with windows on all four sides to bring in light and filtered views of the surrounding tree canopy. From the street, only glimpses of the new addition are available. The experience of the studio is unfolded and expressed only as one pulls into the drive past the existing house, offering a quiet retreat for the family at the rear side of their lot.