The client wanted to build on the vacant lot that he had purchased behind his corner residence. He wanted a garage, storage, a small gym, and workspace. From a design stand point, it was not simply a matter of building a garage. The client had a playful nature and wanted the total effect to be dramatic. The requirements were that the facade and general aspect of the building had to coordinate with the residence. In addition, he wanted to have the roof act as an annex to the roof deck of the residence. His vision was that the porch off of the gym would have “the feel of an Appalachian shack overlooking a meadow.”

Some of the municipal challenges were that we required occupying the entire site. This was permitted primarily because of adjacent back yards and alleys. We were limited in placement of windows because of fire restrictions.

Because there had once been a building on the site there was rubble filled basement space available so we decided to avail ourselves of the additional storage space provided. With a garage up stairs on the first floor we needed to engineer a reinforced slab. We could bear on some of the prior foundation and in other areas there was need of extra bearing due to the slab and its load. We were building on the down hill side of the neighboring townhouse so we took every precaution to not impact the stability of their footings and bearing walls. See more photos here.