Design Request: 

In order to accommodate a growing family, we were approached to generate a space plan and elevation of an addition over the existing garage and dining room that was a prior addition to the historical home.  The program was to add 3 bedrooms, a laundry room in close proximity to the master bedroom, and a jack & jill bathroom. The clients then approached contractors for bids and engineers to see what needed to change structurally in the garage/dining walls, joists, beams, and foundation.

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Design Challenges:

• Keep as much existing as possible on upper level.

• Maintaining or rerouting HVAC duct runs in prior addition from furnace to dining room without creating a bulkhead in dining room.

• Beefing up joists over garage and dining room to accommodate floor load above (dining room ceiling would need to be removed and replaced).

• Insulating joists, garage doors, walls, etc. and possibly adding a garage heater to maintain a comfortable temperature over the garage and to prevent frozen pipes in plumbing above. 

• Aligning level of existing upper floor level and the floor level of addition, and if not possible, then creating a space in the hallway for a couple of steps.

• Keeping with the architectural style of the historical home.

• Providing daylighting throughout the addition while creating a buffer from the busy street on the North. 

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Design Solution:

• Create a hallway on the North of the addition to create a buffer against unwanted noise from busy street on the North.

• Use wood open web joists to allow duct work to run through the floor system to minimize bulkheads for ducts in the dining room. 

• Create access to the upper level addition through the upper rear bedroom (access through the full bath was too narrow).

• Add a jack & jill bathroom between two bedrooms with an entry to the hallway for the other bedroom. 

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Services Provided:

• Space Planning

• Rough Schematic Design 

• Feasibility Study