An Extended Townhouse
The property – an existing 19.5’ wide x 42’ long three-story single-family row house in Park Slope, Brooklyn – became a study of typology, volume, program and light. A renovation project with an added rear extension became the vehicle to re-arrange and re-evaluate volumes and spatial relationships to deconstruct typical boundaries in a row house typology resulting in interconnected rooms that offer the client a more spatial and light-filled experience.
An Extended Townhouse
How best is it to carve out space and light in a townhouse? This is a commonly posed question for New York residential projects, specifically this typology. The challenge here for this 19.5’ wide x 42’ long three-story single family row house in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was the client’s request for a renovation with a rear extension that also introduces more light and as we know lengthening a building and adding more light can contradict each other.
Inherent to the townhouse typology is its longitudinal organization, which limits the amount of light that penetrates the center of the building. Simply adding an extension just compounds this issue. We were intent on creating a series of well situated volumes that allow light to flow in via space, creating volumetric
relationships that link the main living areas both horizontally and vertically and that moves well between new and existing. The flowing light interlocks the spaces and their relationships, all the while simultaneously balancing the proportions of the rooms. The omnidirectional breakdown of spaces offers multiple perspectives,
leading to the main living level, where there is a combination open library-sitting niche, and a powder room that anchors the center with the living room and dining room-kitchen to either side. The dining room then slides into the new extension where a floor opening in the gallery becomes a connector to the family room below, which is adjacent to the double height volume of the studio-workroom below with connections to the adjacent media room. In combination with well-placed exterior window openings and skylights, the house becomes an orchestrated series of views and relationships deconstructing the typical longitudinal organization.
