Project Description
This eclectic and innovative design re-imagines how to live within a traditional 5 story Boston townhouse. Part of the kitchen floor was removed to gain a double height space with an interior Japanese rock garden below. We created valuable space by removing 3 feet of soil from the basement (while repairing the foundation piles). The basement level was completed with a tatami mat yoga room and a full bath with a sauna. We emphasized the contrast between old and new materials; the brick of the party wall was exposed, and the new wall and ceiling are folded like origami. The connection between the street level and basement is reinforced by a translucent glass disk floor suspended on repurposed beams over the rock garden. The new stair animates the two story space with a collage of seemingly random stacking of boxes that tumble between the two levels.
This complicated design of contradictions deserves an award as it fuses an artful, eclectic design on the lower two floors with traditional period design above.