Project Description
2001 RADA
Renovation / Merit
Before its remodel and addition, this project consisted of a 1930s cottage, a garage/workshop, and a root cellar. The buildings lacked any unifying organization, and the small cottage had tiny rooms, bad windows, and lousy heating. “The cottage was plain and looked good from the outside,” says architect Thomas Meyer, “but no one cared about the inside.”
His plan called for a new integration and relationship among the little buildings, and a new master bedroom addition. He stripped the existing structures just enough to allow substantive changes, including a new kitchen, entry, stair, fireplace, and bathrooms for the cottage. He converted the root cellar into the master bath/dressing area and connected it to the master bedroom addition. And he tucked a caretaker’s office and another bathroom into the updated workshop/garage. New windows help link all the structures visually.
“The buildings have a New England quality,” says Meyer, who likens them to a “village of gabled roofs.” The judges called them “playful and sweet”