Shared Memory House
Type: Addition
Size: 1,200 SQ. FT.
Location: Portland, Oregon
Client: Private Homeowner
Status: Completed 2025
This project began with a simple but profound request: to expand an existing home to accommodate the rhythms of multigenerational life. What followed was not just the addition of square footage, but the quiet crafting of a shared future.
Our role was to guide the family through a sea of decisions—technical, spatial, emotional—toward a place of clarity and calm. After careful study of the property, site conditions, and structural realities, we identified the most seamless and least invasive location for the addition. The goal was not simply to build more, but to build better—with intention, proportion, and grace.
Design began by mapping the lives to be lived within. Each room was shaped not only by function, but by feeling. In compact architecture, the risk is always to compress—to make spaces too small, too dim, too tight. To counter this, we raised the ceiling heights, allowing each room to expand vertically and breathe. The result is a quiet generosity of volume that belies the modest footprint—spaces that feel open, airy, and calm.
AFTER
BEFORE
Natural light was treated as a material in its own right. We positioned windows not only for illumination, but for orientation—capturing the path of the sun and letting it animate the interiors throughout the day. The light enters gently, diffused and deliberate, softening transitions between spaces and deepening the sense of tranquility. Even in smaller rooms, it creates a feeling of spaciousness, dignity, and ease.
Privacy posed another challenge. Surrounded on all sides by neighboring homes, the new bedroom faced direct exposure to the street and adjacent properties. Our solution was subtle yet powerful: a clerestory window placed high on the wall, offering a clean, horizontal aperture to the canopy of trees beyond. It filters light, preserves solitude, and creates a framed view of the sky and branches—a seasonal clock that changes the picture with each passing month.
What emerged is a minimal, modern retreat—quiet yet alive. The family’s collaboration was essential. We left space in the design not for ego, but for them—to bring their own stories, needs, and touches of life. And they did, beautifully. The addition now breathes with their presence—a place that feels not only designed, but deeply lived.
