Flecker Residence : New York

The owners of a mid-1960’s house in Upstate New York needed more space for their growing family. The addition creates a new Master Bedroom suite, covered terrace, and secluded home offices for the two work-at-home parents. The existing house sits among tall trees on the leveled top of a natural knoll and has a split-level organization, with its private bedroom areas on the ground floor and public areas above.

The entry, located at the division between these levels, became the insertion point for the addition. Instead of thickening the original house, the design extends the entry stair to stitch or ‘graft’ the new building onto the original house. To bring south light into both the top floor office and the master bedroom below, a light chimney was designed whose volume reaches over the roof of the existing house. 

As with horticultural grafting, both existing and new species reap the benefits of their combined organism. From the connecting lobby space, the addition’s wooden structures rotate away from the original house and ‘grow’ towards light and views like a plant.

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Project Team : Timothy Bade, Jane Stageberg, Martin Cox, Prashant Prabhu, Andrew Skey, Scott Campbell (This project was completed whilst working as an architect with Bade Stageberg Cox Architects)

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Images : Andy Ryan