Visual harmony, clean lines and connections to nature are traditional Japanese design elements that greatly influenced Modernist architecture. In Durham, N.C., homeowners of a 1955 split-level brick home hold deep respect for Japanese simplicity. Owner Seth Rumsey travels to Japan frequently for work and grew increasingly fond of certain design elements he saw there.
“I find efficiency of space and geometric decoration very beautiful and calming,” Rumsey explains. “There’s something meditative about tiles and gardens where the organization of views is interrupted by something unexpected.”
The owners brought these guiding principles to an addition on their home and hired architect Ellen Cassilly, FAIA, LEED AP, principal at Ellen Cassilly Architects in Durham, to achieve their vision.
Paring Down
The homeowners’ initial concept was to create a third floor on the 2,262-square-foot house, but budget constraints became a real concern.
“The first design was very vast,” Cassilly says. “We regrouped and asked, ‘What’s really important here?’ The owners’ priorities were to remodel the kitchen into a great place to cook, make connections with their lovely gardens outside, and add a workshop/garage.”
Cassilly realized she could meet the homeowners’ needs with precise design solutions.
Surmounting Setbacks
The new concept situated a standalone 355-square-foot workshop/garage on a small side yard north of the house to create a passageway for easy access between the front and back yards.
During design, Cassilly discovered that the city took issue with the pathway, so she drove through the neighborhood and documented similar walkways between homes and adjacent structures to prove this layout had already received approval. Because the home and side yard were placed at an odd angle to the street, city code also dictated that building columns for the new independent workshop/garage be farther back from the street than planned. On this point, city officials would not waiver.
“It was like arm wrestling with the city,” Cassilly recalls. “They were caught up in the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.”
Cassilly got creative. She continued the roof of the house across to the workshop/garage to make the space an “addition” in the eyes of the building department. Although the new structure still needed a further setback from the street, there were no code restrictions on an overhang. Cassilly moved the building portion back, added a 275-square-foot concrete pad outside the garage door and set steel columns at its far corners for support. Then she cantilevered the workshop’s roof out and over the columns.
“I love cantilevers and use them often in my designs,” Cassilly says. “Here, the cantilever created a lovely outdoor carport/workspace where the owner can work on projects in the shade on hot summer days.”
During construction, the builder had to be incredibly careful not to disturb the existing gardens and to preserve an enormous pine tree in front of the carport. Code also required a certain amount of permeable surface area, so the concrete pad is separated from the driveway with landscaping to absorb rainfall.
Conscious Connections
On the southwest corner of the house, the original 167-square-foot kitchen was expanded by 108 square feet. Openly visible from the dining room, it was imperative the new kitchen blended seamlessly with the dining area.
At the far end of the kitchen, a wall of shallow cabinets just under 12-inches deep became a hidden bar, where shelves are stocked with beverages and glassware. The cabinets’ green-gray color repeats on the kitchen’s lower cabinet faces.
The homeowners elected to paint the upper cabinets yellow. For Rumsey, the color separation represents the horizon, with the earthy color below and band of sun above. The yellow also served as the perfect accent to the grain in the exposed Douglas fir wood that clads the refrigerator door and deep cabinets along the western wall.
“It was delightful to work with homeowners that were more experimental with color,” Cassilly remarks. “So often, people shy away from using more than one color, but it provides visual interest.”
A long cabinet above the island in the kitchen served a surprise purpose. Along with pots and bowls, the storage area became a display case for fun Japanese collectibles. From his travels, Rumsey brings back Kaiju action figures—superheroes and monsters—and these souvenirs peer out from behind the glass doors.
The wood in the kitchen complements the dining room’s flooring and southern wooden wall. The countertops are white granite, and Japanese ceramic tiles became the kitchen’s focal point.
Striking Symmetry
Originally, decorative tiles were only intended as backsplash behind the oven, but Rumsey decided tiles should envelop the space and he worked with the installer to map it out.
“The tile was simple and beautiful, and it had textural elements,” Rumsey says. “At first we talked about laying it horizontally because of the angled ceiling, but we decided to go vertically to enhance the height.”
He credits the installer for meticulous returns at the windows and impeccable ceiling terminations.
To maintain visual harmony, the island received tile treatment on its lower wall facing the dining room. The theme extends to the knee wall at the half-stair leaving the dining area, but different Japanese concave scalloped tiles approximately 12-inches tall appear here.
Cassilly added a transom window over the dining room’s French doors to usher in more light. In the kitchen, one new window over the sink looks out to the garden and another new 2- by 5-foot window balances the transom window’s height.
Finishing Touches
Cassilly extended the roof and added new cypress soffits with inset lighting around the house and the carport’s cantilever. Originally, the owners wanted the exterior treatment to be Shou Sugi Ban, a Japanese technique that chars wooden surfaces and finishes them in oil for weatherproofing, but the complexity of the materials’ sourcing and the process prevented this application.
“Instead, we chose modified spruce siding with a black stain that mimics the appearance of Shou Sugi Ban,” Cassilly notes. “It conveys the rich palette the homeowners wanted and beautifully offsets the terra-cotta brick and the honey-colored cypress soffits.”
PHOTOS: Lissa Gotwals
Retrofit Team
Architect: Ellen Cassilly Architects
Builder: Trinity Design/Build
Structural Engineer: Scalene Design
Materials
Siding: T+G 1×6 Ignite Spruce Cladding from Thermory
Kitchen Floor Tile: 24×24 Baltimore Gris from Happy Floors
Kitchen Backsplash: Yuki Border from INAX
Knee-wall Tile: Izumo from INAX
Refrigerator: Dacor
Beverage Refrigerator: Zephyr
Cabinets: Piedmont Joinery
Light Fixture above Kitchen Peninsula: Thin Line LED from Sonneman
Kitchen Countertops: Coast from HanStone
Kitchen Windows and Door, Transom in Dining: Essential from Marvin
Garage Door: Overhead Door
Entry Door: Rogue Valley Door
Kitchen Door: Fir from Simpson Door Company
