Contemporary addition unifies indoors with out in Damascus

Working with architect Kai Tong, they developed a plan to remove all the walls in the rear of the house to bring the outside in and unify the space with nature and light.

“The result relieved the constricted energy, or ‘chi,’ of the house, by eliminating the bottlenecks and obstructed sightlines of the cluttered and isolated existing rooms,” said Tong, of Hopkins & Porter, a residential architecture design and building firm.

Tong created a “soaring” living room with a dramatically curved wall of floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking an expansive stone terrace. A copper Duplo-Dinamico ceiling fan, with propellers on both sides, adds a dimension of flight to the space near one of the exits to the outside.

“We tilted the roof planes of the addition upwards, to create a ‘flying roof’ to capture views of clouds and sky, and carefully manage the resulting roof, rain and snow factors,” Tong said.

The new family room features walkouts to a cantilevered, curvilinear deck balcony or to a new set of stairs and landing wrapped on horizontal slats of cedar with deep, reddish-brown Sikkens stain. Then it is down to a curving flagstone patio with a stone fire pit.

Tong said concealed steel structural elements enable a seamless and unobstructed connection between the new spaces and the old interior of the house. He ensured the existing oak hardwood flooring of the house was continued seamlessly with new hardwood flooring carefully toothed into the existing floorboards for a uniform appearance. The entire addition becomes a lantern for the backyard in the evenings, projecting a golden, dimmable glow that respects the night sky.

“We wanted to have it nice and open,” Keith Steele said. “And to be able to look outside.”

To complement the new addition, Steele designed and built a stream, pond and bridge overlooking it from an adjacent hill. It’s a great place for his two young daughters to play.

“Laura always wanted a pebble stream,” he said. “I started digging a hole that continued upward along a meandering path.” He put every stone in himself, and it serves as a kind of monument to the masterfully conceived addition.

Designing a contemporary addition to a traditional home while creating a harmonious flow to the house was a challenge for Tong that paid off — the addition won a local 2010 National Association of the Remodeling Industry Contractor of the Year award.

“The family is now fully engaged each day with the light, space, view, sounds and energy of their natural surroundings,” Tong said.