Qualified Remodeler Magazine

FEB 2017

Qualified Remodeler helps independent remodeling firms to survive, become more professional and more profitable by providing must-have business information, namely best business practices, new product information and timely design ideas.

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rthur Dallas (A.D.) Stenger built many homes in Austin, Texas, following World War II, and the majority did not exceed 1,500 square feet. A current owner sought to double the size of her 1968 house, but extensive setbacks and impervious cover on the lot restricted her options, thus she approached architect David Webber after seeing a house he designed on a local homes tour. "Even though it was mid-century modern and [it] had a good line on the outside, it didn't really hold up on the inside," says Webber, founder and principal of Webber + Studio, an architecture firm in Austin. "ere was one room that [followed] the mid-century modern principles the house was designed around, but all the other rooms were just essentially lined up on a hallway." Webber wanted to gut this "chopped up" part of the floor plan and add a second level, although he could not settle on a complementary design. Fortunately, his famil- iarity with the home gave him the inspiration to formu- late a solution that expands living space while blending seamlessly. "I grew up in the same neighborhood … I went trick-or-treating at this house," Webber explains. FINDING INSPIRATION Stenger also built Webber's childhood home, so Webber lived in one of his houses and even met the renowned architect as a youth. When the owners of a Stenger home desire more living space, Webber says, they usually just try to repeat the same architectural style—a low-pitch gable roof, specifically—for the addition, which often compromises the entire design aesthetic of the house. "It doesn't feel right—it feels like [the addition is] weak- ening the original house by duplicating it," says Webber, who remembered Stenger conceived some unusual homes down the street as well. One such house features steeply angled sides—the roofline—that begin at the foundation and meet at the top in the shape of the letter "A," which became popular in the late 1950s and 1960s. Webber used this A-frame concept in his design for the second story to provide balance and pay homage to the original architecture. e boldness of a vertical element allows the existing home to remain understated and re- laxed, while the incorporation of 1,500 additional square feet offers ample opportunity to tailor the newfound space for the owner as well as her school-age children. "What it ends up doing is [reinforcing] the strength of the horizontal, and the horizontal reinforces the strength of the vertical by being contrasting," notes Webber, who carved out a stairway in an area previously utilized as the hallway to other rooms. "By getting up really tall, it allowed us to get some really cool double-height spaces for the kids' rooms because those are in the A-frame." Reimagined Residence Webber + Studio honors original architecture with innovative solution that blends different styles and doubles living space. By Kyle Clapham The A-frame concept used in the design for the second level provides balance and pays homage to the original architecture. A Photo: Chris Archer QualifiedRemodeler.com QR February 2017 23 PROJECTS: Design Solutions

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