New Canaan Residence
New Canaan, CT
This architectural renovation and addition accommodates a contemporary lifestyle while respecting the integrity of a significant mid-century modernist home by the notable New Canaan architect John Black Lee. Zoning required that the new addition be aligned with the front and back of the existing house, resulting in the linear massing. A continuous roofline visually unifies the new addition with the pitched roof of the existing house. The original subdivided interiors were liberated into one open glazed pavilion. Three freestanding wood-clad service cores subdivide this space into three distinct activity zones: kitchen, living/dining and the primary bedroom. The split bedroom configuration provides privacy between the empty-nester parents, who occupy the new primary bedroom wing located at the opposite end of the house from their children, young adults who enjoy independence when they visit. In contrast to the original site plan that treated the house as an object floating in an undifferentiated picturesque lawn, the landscape was reconceived into four quadrants, each treated as an outdoor room that extends an indoor domestic activity to the exterior.
The renovation and addition respected the integrity of the mid-century home while offering a contemporary lifestyle.
This project was completed while Josh Dannenberg was at Joel Sanders Architect.
Photos by Peter Aaron.