Designed to support the owners’ changing needs as they age, the Carriage House packs a lot of space, storage, and amenities into a tiny structure, including a one-bedroom rental apartment, a separate downstairs guest suite, and a garage.
The simple and open design creates an airiness that makes the living spaces feel larger than its square footage. Drawing on the turn-of-the-20th-century “dog-run” vernacular that features an outdoor room in the middle of the house, the dwelling integrates many climate-responsive features such as high ceilings, high windows, and cross ventilation.
Architect Pamela Wadsworth Goode also emphasized private outdoors spaces for the Carriage House tenants and visitors and the residents of the adjacent main house, providing each with their own garden. By terracing the gently sloping lot with locally quarried limestone walls, she provided an outdoor patio for the guest suite, gardens on the southeast for the homeowners, and a garden for the rental unit tenant on the northwest corner. This arrangement created separate outdoor spaces without the need for fences.
Many of the home’s products and systems were chosen for their resource efficiency, including a Noritz tankless water heater, Mitsubishi ductless split system, Energy Star appliances, dual-flush toilets, FSC-certified bamboo flooring, and composite wood decking.
Other sustainable features include: --Walk Score of 86
--blocking for future grab bars in both bathrooms
--ZIP System wall sheathing
--AdvanTech sub-floor with formaldehyde-free MDI resin
--low-E argon-filled Marvin windows and glazed doors
--cellulose and open-cell spray foam insulation
--Energy Star bathrooms and laundry exhaust fans
--550-gallon rainwater catchment system with pump for irrigation
--more than 80% of construction waste recycled
