The owners’ goals for the addition are

.create a quiet master bedroom in their noisy,echo-y house
.provide more closet space in the master bedroom
.add an office
.add a third bathroom for their daughter’s bedroom
.increase the area of their house to match their neighbors’ homes (add +-350 sf)

Their house (top image) is a modest 1970’s tract house, one story, in a suburb in San Diego’s North County. It sits on a corner with a large front yard. There is a +-15′ high slope at the back of their wide and somewhat shallow backyard.

I came up with three design approaches. The first (not shown) is a basic, low cost solution. The only plan change is adding a third bathroom. The acoustical problems are handled through construction details: more layers of drywall, sealing doors, isolating the heating ducts, and generally closing sound paths between the living room and the master bedroom.

The second approach, called the Court+, takes advantage of the large front yard to create a new master away from the noisy living spaces. The master is wrapped around a private landscaped courtyard with a murmuring fountain and pond. What was bedroom 3 becomes the new master closet. The enlarged old master is a new office and a new bedroom 2.

The third approach, called the Tower, extends a new master bedroom off the back of the house, into the back yard. The old master is enlarged to become a new office and expanded master closets. A second story roof deck, above the master, replaces the back yard area lost to the new master.

Next: An approach is selected and a design is developed