Ruhl Walker Architects

The custom prefab house we designed in Lincoln is nearing completion, and the owners are getting excited about moving out of their temporary apartment and into their new, sun-filled dream house! The cedar tongue and groove siding looks fantastic; it has a temporary protective coating and will be stained in the spring after studying some color options. There is a lot of frantic activity inside also, with the quarter sawn red oak flooring being finished this week, tile and trim almost complete, the stainless steel cable railings being installed, and the Pedini kitchen getting final adjustments.

Last week we posted images of recent progress on our transformation of a speculatively-built house in suburban Boston, and this week we have windows to show off, adding a dose of scale and reality. Perhaps not as dramatic as when an entire custom prefab house is set in two or three days, like our Lincoln house, but the rainy weather we’ve been having is less potentially destructive with site-built structures than it can be with custom prefab modular. It’s fun to see the new spaces coming together, especially the new living spaces that hover over the basement level excavation, and the new master suite.

There has been some real progress recently on our transformation of a speculatively-built “Garrison Colonial” house in suburban Boston. Since we first posted the design back in June, 2011, you will notice that there have been some substantial changes, namely to keep more of the existing house’s shell including its gabled roof. This was initially proposed as a cost-savings measure, and even though it didn’t ultimately result in substantial cost savings, the owner preferred keeping more of the original house for sentimental reasons. The excavated basement is also no longer going to include a lap pool; instead the space will be used as a home theater and guest suite. Last week we had steel and concrete, this week we can see the actual form of the “new” house!

Drawing, designing, and dreaming are all gratifying aspects of being an architect, but we also really love when the projects we’ve designed begin actual construction. That is after all the primary goal of what we do all day in the studio! We work with some fantastic general contractors, and working closely with them until the day our clients move in is an exciting, collaborative process. Check out the projects below, and we’ll keep posting updates in the coming weeks.

The renovation of this Boston rowhouse includes opening up the middle for a dramatic, three-story living space, with natural light eventually pouring down from a large skylight above.

A couple we met when we designed new faculty housing at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, MA, asked us to design a small addition to their two-room house in the Berkshires. The new space will provide additional living space as well as a bedroom and bathroom; the existing house with only an open sleeping loft, lacked the kind of privacy needed with older children. The flat roof of the addition is accessed from an exterior stair tower, and will eventually have a railing around it for small rooftop gatherings for star-gazing and enjoying views extending deep into Vermont.

A view of a steel stair above the front entrance of a new house in Lincoln. The stair treads and partial risers will be solid red oak, and the stair landing will have red oak flooring and red oak veneered plywood below.

Major earthwork is evident at this substantial renovation project in Chelmsford. Here you see the beginnings of an excavation that will become a landscaped garden and terrace cut into the ground in order to bring daylight into new lower level living spaces. Natural light is so critical! Only small parts of the existing house will remain untouched when the project is finished later this year.

We are really excited about several new projects in the early stages of design, including new houses, two new lofts, and a master plan for a small school in northern New Hampshire. We will share some more information about each of these projects in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, check out the images and information below.

We are thrilled that our Westport clients are enjoying living in their new river front house, after recently having received their Certificate of Occupancy from the town! There is still an extensive punch list to complete, but after such a long, snowy winter and an unusually rainy spring, that first coffee on the new deck was extra special…

We do our best to address our clients’ expectations throughout the design and construction process; but because every client is so unique, each project has its own unique and ever-changing set of expectations.  In most cases the design process is quite fun, perhaps because the focus is on hopes and dreams.  But most of our clients would not describe the construction process as fun… Maintaining some perspective is the goal, remembering that there is an end to the often stressful process, and trying to find some humor in the occasionally ridiculous process of residential construction. In this case, the focus was on that mid-summer coffee on the deck, watching the river flow by…

Exterior view, river side; the upper level has a master bedroom on the left, living / dining room in the middle, and screened porch on the right, and the lower level has two additional bedrooms, family room, bathroom, and abundant storage.	Close-up of steel stair leading down to the river from the raised deck and screened porch.
Living room view facing the screened porch, accessible through the Nana Wall door system; interior floors are bleached Ash and porch and deck flooring is sustainably harvested mahogany.	The new kitchen with bleached walnut cabinetry and Ash floors.
Interior stairs connecting renovated lower level and new upper level; stairs are bleached ash and lower level floors are stained concrete.	Screened porch view facing into main living / dining space; eventually the far wall will have bleached walnut and honed black slate paneling.
View of Westport River from screened porch; stainless steel railings have been installed since this photo was taken.	The first coffee and NY Times on the new deck…

The images below show one of our most interesting current projects.  We have been hired to not only improve and enlarge a suburban “colonial” house, but also to address the owner’s fundamental dislike for the current house’s outward appearance.  The owners need larger spaces in most every direction, and because the existing house also needs new windows and siding, the opportunity exists to completely change the style of the house.

Perhaps the most exciting of the new changes is the conversion of the former basement into a day lit lap pool, with folding doors opening onto a new lower terrace with a grassy berm, seating wall and fire pit.  The new living and dining spaces are then designed to float above this sunken terrace.

We’ll keep you posted as the design progresses, but below is where we are to date.

BEFORE: front and side of existing house	AFTER: front and side of new house showing new entry sequence
BEFORE: rear of existing house	AFTER: rear of new house showing new decks and indoor pool courtyard / terrace
Aerial view showing new lower level indoor pool courtyard / terrace	Aerial view showing new entry sequence
Lower level pool courtyard with seating integrated into landscaped slope	Lower level pool with glass walls opening out to the courtyard / terrace

Currently under construction on the banks of the Westport River, in Westport, MA, is a house we designed for a general contractor and his wife. Reed / Hildebrand is landscape architect and interior design will be by Diane Cramphin of Oblio Design.

The couple bought a simple 1980′s “saltbox” a few years ago, with the dream of knocking the house down and starting over with a fresh, modern design. One of the homeowners had grown up in a modern house in Virginia, and wanted to have a low-slung house that opened up to its beautiful, river-side setting. They called for removing the existing three story house and replacing it with a single story house that would include a large, open living / dining / cooking space that would open through a Nana Wall door to a large living / dining screened porch. Also on the main floor will be a master suite and an office that could double as a guest bedroom. Because the house is built on a hill, the main floor will be built on top of the existing foundation, and the lower level will include two guest bedrooms and a family room, as well as storage below the screened porch.

The design parti is two bars shifting past each other, with the space between the two bars being the main circulation zone. The bar on the river side will be taller and longer than the inland bar, and is defined by a ten foot high by eighty-four foot long wall of glass and screens, defined within a continuous frame; the river bar “floats” above the base, which is reconfigured as a landscape feature covered with vines. The inland bar is sheathed in shingles with deeply inset windows asymmetrically organized based on practical needs for light and cross ventilation. Construction is expected to be completed in June, 2011, but we’ll keep you posted on progress in this blog.

The new house floats above its river side site.	Digital model image.
Steel structure is in place, and framing is on-going.	On the north end of the house, the master bedroom cantilevers six feet beyond two concrete pilotis.
The two bars are evident at the north end of the house; between them is the main circulation spine.	The inland bar floats above its concrete base.
The river will be visible through the new screened porch.	The riverside bar floats above a base that will accommodate off-season storage, and that will be sheathed with cedar slats held apart for ventilation.
Upon entering the main living space, the river appears.	The main living space will be sixty feel long, separated by an operable wall, with fireplaces at both ends; half of the space will be screened.
View from master bedroom.	Rick's office will also have river views.
Though there was no real attachment to the existing house, demolition is still almost always emotionally traumatic.