This fresh modern farmhouse began as a cape home with years of additions and adds on, creating no formal structure. Rocco J Lettieri worked to keep the footprint of the home due to limitations based on the wetland conservations on the property and opted to go from a traditional home to a modern barn with a semi-open plan. The goal was to feel clean and crisp throughout all of the seasons. It was built for a close family so the layout is designed to be inviting for their children as well. Photo Credit: Tria Giovan

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Hi Point Home Builders
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Set on ten acres abutting protected conservation land, the zoning for this site allowed for a creative multi-unit residential project. The design concept created a sustainable modern farm community of three distinct structures. A sense of individuality is established between the buildings, while a comprehensive site design references historic farms with a home-like, residential scale. An existing structure was renovated to house three condo units, featuring sliding barn doors and floor-to-ceiling storefront glass in the great room, with 25’ ceilings. Across a circular cobblestone drive, a new house and barn structure houses two condo units. Connecting both units, a garage references a carriage house and barn with small square windows above and large bays at ground level to mimic barn bays. There is no parking lot for the site – instead garages and a few individual parking spaces preserve the scale of a natural farm property. Patios and yards in the rear of each unit offer private access to the lush natural surroundings and space for entertaining.

Ocean-side view of exterior at low tide. Photo by John Whipple
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MEDITERRANEAN, TRADITIONAL, CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES, MALIBU, CALABASAS, SANTA MONICA, THOUSAND OAKS, SHERMAN OAKS, WEST HILLS, PACIFIC PALISADES, NORTH RANCH, AGOURA, AGOURA HILLS, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, SUCCULENTS, ECLECTIC, OAK PARK, DECOMPOSED GRANITE, AUSTRALIAN PLANTS, CALIFORNIA NATIVE, CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANTS, SUSTAINABLE, RAIN CAPTURE, SOIL HEALTH, RUSTIC, ENGLISH GARDEN, DROUGHT TOLERANT, DROUGHT RESISTANT, LAWN REMOVAL, WATER CONSERVATION, WATER CONSERVING, WATERWISE, LOW MAINTENANCE, CLIMATE, FRONT YARD, BACK YARD, BACKYARD, PATIO, POOL, SOUTHWESTERN, ASIAN, WALKWAY, SUCCULENT POTS, GRAVEL, EDIBLE, LANDSCAPE, POOL, GARDEN, GARDEN DESIGN, SUCCULENT GARDEN, SUCCULENT POTS, REBATE, SUCCULENT WALL, LIVING WALL, DRAFTING, HARDSCAPE, HARDSCAPING, LIGHTING, FOUNTAIN, WATER FEATURE, LOW WATER, DRIP IRRIGATION, FIRE PIT, SANTA BARBARA, OXNARD, VENTURA,

This home is constructed in the world famous neighborhood of Lido Shores in Sarasota, Fl. The home features a flipped layout with a front court pool and a rear loading garage. The floor plan is flipped as well with the main living area on the second floor. This home has a HERS index of 16 and is registered LEED Platinum with the USGBC. Ryan Gamma Photography

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Surrounded by large stands of old growth trees, the site’s topography and high ridge location was very challenging to the architects on the project – Phil Kean and David Stone – of Phil Kean Designs Group. Skilled arborists were brought in to protect the Sycamore, Basswood, Oak and yellow Poplar trees and surrounding woodland. The owner, Ken LaRoe is a conservationist who wanted to preserve the nearby trees and create an energy-efficient house with a small carbon footprint. Photography by: Kevin Meechan

This gem of a house was built in the 1950s, when its neighborhood undoubtedly felt remote. The university footprint has expanded in the 70 years since, however, and today this home sits on prime real estate—easy biking and reasonable walking distance to campus. When it went up for sale in 2017, it was largely unaltered. Our clients purchased it to renovate and resell, and while we all knew we'd need to add square footage to make it profitable, we also wanted to respect the neighborhood and the house’s own history. Swedes have a word that means “just the right amount”: lagom. It is a guiding philosophy for us at SYH, and especially applied in this renovation. Part of the soul of this house was about living in just the right amount of space. Super sizing wasn’t a thing in 1950s America. So, the solution emerged: keep the original rectangle, but add an L off the back. With no owner to design with and for, SYH created a layout to appeal to the masses. All public spaces are the back of the home--the new addition that extends into the property’s expansive backyard. A den and four smallish bedrooms are atypically located in the front of the house, in the original 1500 square feet. Lagom is behind that choice: conserve space in the rooms where you spend most of your time with your eyes shut. Put money and square footage toward the spaces in which you mostly have your eyes open. In the studio, we started calling this project the Mullet Ranch—business up front, party in the back. The front has a sleek but quiet effect, mimicking its original low-profile architecture street-side. It’s very Hoosier of us to keep appearances modest, we think. But get around to the back, and surprise! lofted ceilings and walls of windows. Gorgeous.

Ken Fine of Ken Fine Photography
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Photo by Mike Casey Cramped, uncomfortable, and out of date: when the owners of this home approached us about renovating their kitchen and adjoining sunroom, these were high on their list of complaints. OPENING UP THE KITCHEN Our plan kept the kitchen in the same location but took down the walls between both the dining room and the sunroom to create an expansive multi-purpose space with spectacular views to conservation land along the back of the property. We removed the powder room and in its place created a window-lined hallway to the living room—opening up direct access between these two previously disconnected spaces. We then built a new half bath between these two rooms, with a door along the back hallway. The result is a more private powder room that is easier to access than before. Significantly improved cabinetry provides ample storage for both human and canine needs. An island countertop is functional and pleasant, enabling the owners to prep for and clean up from dinner all while enjoying the view of the woods behind their house. CREATING COMFORT We also completely rebuilt the sunroom, thickening the framing to allow for extra insulation and raising the roof to accommodate a higher ceiling and tall windows that let in as much natural light as the skylights they replaced, but much less of the solar gain that had made the room so intolerable in the summer. We improved visual connections between spaces and admitted more natural light by converting the framing of the main stairway from full to half walls. We also insulated the attic and replaced an aging, inefficient central air conditioning system with ductless minisplit heat pumps, which can also be used as supplemental heat. All in all, this was our kind of project: we made the home more attractive, more comfortable, and more energy-efficient—all over the course of a single, well-integrated project.

Photo: Bonnie McCarthy © 2015 Houzz
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Adjacent to a 40 acre conservation area, this house on a slope is designed to maximize the connection to the woods, while maintaining privacy from this popular public hiking area. Despite its location in a suburban neighborhood, the house is made to feel like a wooded retreat. With passive-solar strategies, the house orients northward to nature, while allowing the southerly sun to enter through large openings and clerestories. A geothermal system provides the hot water, heating and cooling.

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