Zvenigorod

Probably, this was enough for the owner to choose between building a house on a new plot, or reconstruction of existing half duplex to choose the second. And we understand him like no one else. But the disadvantages of an existing house do not end with a common wall with neighbors. Built in the early years after political and economic changes, still Soviet and usual «norms», the house has quite microscopic heights of floors. The tallest, second, had a height of only 2.40 m, the first floor was not higher than 2.2 m in places. Add to this a narrow staircase to the second floor, and no stairs for going down to the basement (where, by the way, is located laundry, garage and sauna with lounge) and the overall picture is completely set. On the one hand, neat and overall very nice house, breathtaking view from windows and charming garden. On the other hand, there are a few floors, low ceilings, narrow stairs and the need to pick up laundry across the street… The customer contacted us after seeing the issue of the program «Dachnyy otvet», where we reconstructed the old house. Among other things, he was attracted by the large panoramic windows that we had built into the project. And this was perhaps his only wish for «renovation» of the architecture – just to make window openings bigger, so that there would be more light and there would be an exit to the backyard. But we, as so often happens, could not stop at that. Thinking about how to solve the problem of low ceilings without demolishing the house, we suggested to the customer to make a small second light in the living area, so that there was a sense of continuation of space somewhere up. We also changed the configuration of all the stairs, made them normal, two-march, comfortable width, from the base to the second floor. The staircase from the first floor to the second floor was as transparent and arranged as possible, so that in fact another light appeared connecting two floors. Other changes included extending the window opening to the second floor, moving the porch, adding a summer gallery with a patio area and sunshade curtains, and many other less visible but important details. In fact, we completely rebuilt the whole house and redesigned it.