Gallery House
Cambridge, MA The square proportions of this historic structure allowed for plenty of natural light around its perimeter, but relatively dark interiors toward the core of its footprint. To distribute daylight more evenly throughout, this gut renovation opens the entire ground floor horizontally to create a single flowing space between living, dining, and kitchen, where an all-glass addition extends out to a cloistered patio deck. The central gallery space contains a new open stair and circulation corridors on multiple levels, capped by an expansive new skylight that brings natural light deep into the heart of the home. The interior walls of the multi-height gallery space are analogous to interior facades, dispersing daylight into the upper bedroom spaces using clerestory windows, transoms, and frosted glass doors. This creates an overall effect where daylight appears to be coming from both inside and outside the home, resulting in a dynamic and ever-changing interior environment for our clients' evolving art collection. As the home is in a Cambridge Historic District, all the above interventions had to be calibrated carefully so as not to be visible from the street, to maintain the home's original presentation to the public.
Cambridge, MA The square proportions of this historic structure allowed for plenty of natural light around its perimeter, but relatively dark interiors toward the core of its footprint. To distribute daylight more evenly throughout, this gut renovation opens the entire ground floor horizontally to create a single flowing space between living, dining, and kitchen, where an all-glass addition extends out to a cloistered patio deck. The central gallery space contains a new open stair and circulation corridors on multiple levels, capped by an expansive new skylight that brings natural light deep into the heart of the home. The interior walls of the multi-height gallery space are analogous to interior facades, dispersing daylight into the upper bedroom spaces using clerestory windows, transoms, and frosted glass doors. This creates an overall effect where daylight appears to be coming from both inside and outside the home, resulting in a dynamic and ever-changing interior environment for our clients' evolving art collection. As the home is in a Cambridge Historic District, all the above interventions had to be calibrated carefully so as not to be visible from the street, to maintain the home's original presentation to the public.