Project Objectives
The homeowner came to the architect to design a mudroom and garage that would seamlessly tie into the existing house and fit specific needs. Some of these needs corresponded to the client’s hobbies. The clients enjoy being outside and tending to their beautiful flower gardens and planting beds. Because of this, they would many times want to come into an area where they could remove soiled clothing and clean up quickly before they entered the house. Also, they wanted a new entry to be attached to both a new garage and the existing driveway. The driveway was four feet below the existing first floor. It was requested that the entry have a sitting bench for removing shoes, as well as storage for shoes, coats, umbrellas and other similar items. They were also in need of a laundry room where they could fold, iron and sort clothes. The mudroom addition had to have a full bathroom, laundry sink, and lots of storage. The storage had to include an area to fit the owner’s ironing board. The workspace in the laundry area also needed ample natural light to minimize the need for task lighting. The new mudroom needed to be connected to the existing kitchen and an additional door was to be added off of the kitchen to an existing side patio. A covered porch was also requested outside this door for protection from the weather. Since the client also lives on a small street with a very small driveway, there is only enough space to park 2 cars. The client desired to add a garage to fit an
additional car on the property. The garage is also designed to incorporate a future lift for when the owners are no longer able to walk up the stairs. The addition also needed to respect the aesthetics of the existing house through design, details and quality. Another challenge was the changes in grade between the driveway, first floor and rear patio. Careful thought and planning was performed by the architect to maximize the needs of the client while also maintaining the setback requirements governed by zoning laws. These requirements defined the position of the one side of the building and limited the overall size.