A Carriage House Transformed - Design Bureau

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A Carriage House Transformed

Thursday, September 27th, 2012

By Maggie Lange
Carriage House photos by Bob O'Connor

Massachusetts architect Andrew Sidford saved a 19th-century Massachusetts carriage house from demolition by shifting its purpose. Although the historic space had only been used for horse-and-buggy storage, the preservation-conscious owners saw its potential as a living space and enlisted Sidford’s expertise. 

To make the space liveable, Sidford converted the structure into two apartments and a garage, striving to retain its original carriage house feel without neglecting its contemporary use. The architect refinished the building’s impressive beams, rooftop cupola, and wide-paned windows to highlight its history. He then reworked the staircase and inserted a soaring glass façade and sculptural ironwork elements to inject the space with some  contemporary style. 

Now finished, the carriage house is a new-and-improved version of its former self, and stands as a worthy home for its current (human) inhabitants.

A Perfect Partnership
Andrew Sidford and Chris Magliozzi, Operations Manager for Bay Point Builders, met in a routine project meeting and instantly hit it off.  “It was apparent that the two firms had similar philosophies and good chemistry,” Magliozzi says. Sidford and Magliozzi put this shared philosophy to the test on their project in Massachusetts, which presented two key challenges. “The technical challenge was [to keep] a very open floor plan coupled with exterior glass walls, which made it difficult to keep the structure rigid,” Magliozzi explains. And the second challenge? “The owner had a very aggressive schedule. The building was designed and built in 9 months,” he says. Although these factors made for daunting roadblocks, together, the two teams solved the home’s structural issue without compromising the tight timeline. “In order to succeed, we took a very team-oriented approach and put the project goals first,” Magliozzi says. “Both firms genuinely believe the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that the best way to succeed is to put the client’s and project goals ahead of all others.

 

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