09/30/2026
The Periscope, featured in Residential Design Magazine.
For a family outgrowing their 1,100-square-foot 1940s rambler, moving was not the only answer. Instead, the project adapts and expands the existing house, adding space while preserving its connection to the neighborhood, garden, and forest beyond.
The result is an addition that is deliberately compact from the street, but expansive from within.
Architecture & Interiors:
Contractor: Praxis Builders
Structural Engineer: Harriott Valentine Engineers
Envelope Consultant: RDH Building Science
Photographer: Kevin Scott
Residential Design Vol. 5, 2026, pp. 56-62
Old and new meet at the roofline.
Rather than treating the addition as an object placed on top of the existing house, we studied how its form could grow directly from what was already there.
“What shape does it take, considering the rooflines of the existing structure?” Jon Gentry, AIA, GO'C partner.
The final form became a dark, periscope-like volume that slips into the existing L-shaped house, with its butterfly roof opening toward diffused northern light at the street and the big southern views of the hillside beyond.
A precise incision into the existing house.
The addition extends the living spaces toward the backyard, creating a larger kitchen, dining area, and family room while maintaining the character of the original brick rambler.
The new volume meets the old house along a carefully controlled line, turning the seam between old and new into an architectural detail in its own right.
Builder Peter Ward of Praxis Builders describes it as a place where “The old gable ridge was cut in half, and we framed our new addition right to this line.”
Making room for living.
The main level was reorganized around a larger kitchen, dining area, and living room, creating a more generous communal space without removing the character of the existing house.
White walls and warm wood create a quiet backdrop for art, while the expanded glazing brings the garden and changing light deeper into the home.
The staircase becomes the center of the house.
A slender staircase of blackened steel rods rises through the center of the home, illuminated from above by a
