Four Houses Four Stories - Flipbook - Page 77
1/4 Open
1/2 Open
Open
B
D
C
A
Curved 11' x 20' wall sliding into wall pocket
extends family room
into garage and opens
garage interior to
back yard patio.
A
B
C
D
Our client’s new
home has been appointed as the party
and entertaining location for their large
extended family of
seasoned restaurant
owner/operators. This
means that the home
has to accommodate
small dinners for a few
friends and absorb nearly
100 guests for holiday season gatherings. The challenge
is in finding unused interior
space. Is there such a thing
as “unused interior space”—of
course not! But, nearly every home
in America has a large “reserve” of
interior space in the form of a garage.
If it is not used for parking then it is used
as for storage, play or as a shop area
but rarely is it fully developed to the same
standards as other interior living spaces. Our
Rear Patio
Outdoor Fireplace
Family Room
Garage
solution? Locate the large tandem 4-car garage
adjacent to the exterior family room and rear entertaining areas and create simple techniques or processes that could transform the empty car storage
space into a fully developed interior living space. This
was accomplished through the following 20 minute
process: slide a large (1 hour rated) 11' x 20' wall
that removes an entire side of the living room into
it’s pocket, swing closed a large interior divider door
across the short garage direction so that catering
crews can set-up and prepare food nearest the garage door and their van parked in the front courtyard,
enable the cooling or heating system for that zone,
pull up the blinds over the window wall to expose
the garden and daylight, unroll pre-sized family room
matched carpet sections over the garage floor and
turn on the lights! It’s possible to leave the swinging
garage center divider door unclosed, open the garage
and front courtyard doors to the street and invite the
entire neighborhood over for a giant block party. The
connection from the street to the backyard is entirely
openable to the extent that a car could maneuver to
the back patio or park in the family room—not that
they want or plan to do this.
DESIGN
SOLUTION
