Upshur Street Whole House Renovation

The owners of this project inherited their childhood home, and set out to renovate and expand it to create a new home to raise their family in. The original kitchen, tucked in the back corner of the house, was barely functional, and had no space for anyone other than the cook. Adding an addition to the rear created space for a large open kitchen and great room. The existing kitchen became a butler’s pantry for additional kitchen space. The kitchen serves as an interstitial space connecting the interior of the house with the exterior of the deck and yard. Large operable doors and casement windows bring light and ventilation, and the clerestory windows create a view of the sky. It’s a space large enough for the family to invite their community to gather, but intimate enough for just the four of them to come together.

The big idea for this project is connection and gathering. The kitchen and great room addition is a space for the family and community to gather together and functions as an interstitial space between the interior and exterior spaces. Sustainability influenced the geometry of the addition, with a large overhang reducing summer sun on the south facade. The desire for natural ventilation in the temperate months led to the large sliding doors and casement windows at the sink, which also create view opportunities to the yard. The doors also connect the inside with the outside, and bring attention to the heritage tree from the owner’s childhood and the bamboo that he planted with his father.

The project added new solar panels to the south facing gable roof of the property, along with a Tesla battery. The angle of the roof is within 3º of the optimal angle for efficient electricity generation. The battery helps to modulate the solar panel energy, reducing or eliminating the need for energy from the grid at night. The kitchen addition has large operable casement windows and sliding doors to allow for natural ventilation during DC’s temperate months while connecting the indoor and outdoor spaces. Combined with clerestory windows at the ceiling, the south facing kitchen and great room have an abundance of natural light, ventilation, and view, creating a comfortable environment. Spray foam insulation in the walls and ceiling create a thermally efficient building envelope for the less temperate months, while mechanized solar shades allow the owners to control the amount of light and heat entering the space.

The design of the kitchen was always intended to bring as much outside light, ventilation, and view inside as possible. The windows and sliding doors create the connection between the inside and outside, and allow the parents to watch the kids playing in the yard. The kitchen window has a ledge running the length of the cabinetry, for growing orchids, a passion of the owner. The clerestory windows are south facing and have an overhang. In the hot DC summer, the overhang will reduce the amount of light coming in at the sun’s zenith, reducing solar heat gain. In the winter, it’ll allow more light in, helping warm the space. The shades are UV rated, so they block some light, but most of the heat gain, allowing for modulation beyond the building geometry. The shades are broken into groups, allowing for privacy on the sides, but view to the rear