New construction, sensitive to its site, with spectacular views.
Stuart H. Sachs, Landscape Architect
Ciocci and Sons, General Contractor
This Project involved four separate additions to the existing house: a second floor master suite; a new family entrance with a wine cellar and 2.5 car garage; an addition/alteration to the living room (making it roughly octagonal, 20'x20') and foyer; and a graceful Spanish cedar pergola/screened porch.
Apro Builders Inc., General Contractor
This project was a complete renovation of a circa 1930 Cape-style house along the Housatonic River. The rich stonework of the first floor was preserved; a run-down porch was removed in favor of a screened porch that seems to have no corners, and thus a broader vista. The second floor, which had very low, cramped bedrooms, was enlarged. On the new roofline, a large array of photovoltaic and hydronic solar panels (virtually invisible) was added, which supplies nearly all power and hot water needs for the house year-round. The entire floor plan was re-oriented to take advantage of the stunning views.
Entrance view
Living room, through dining room, to breakfast room
Living room toward foyer/library
Dining room
Before
After - facing river
Family Room
Before
The original house - a 1960s ranch with an awkward second-story addition - suffered a lack of coherence. The entrance was shunted far to the left side of the house. The new massing allowed the entrance, though distant, to become a focal point. The odd shape of the lot suggested that the garage screen the house from an access road, while creating an entrance court within.
Before
After - facing street
Before
Before
Entrance court
This mid-century home was completely refurbished, maintaining its clean Modernist lines and soaring open plan. An addition facing the side street houses a spacious high-ceilinged kitchen. New exterior materials have been virtually maintenance-free.
Stuart H. Sachs, Landscape Architect
Ciocci & Sons Construction, General Contractor
Screened porch/Pergola
Foyer
To this stately 1928 Georgian home was added an art gallery, a 3-car garage, and servants' quarters.
A challenging addition to a split-level - a challenge from the client: "Make it look more cottage-like." Though additions totaled less than 75 square feet, the entire character of the house is changed. The kitchen/ breakfast room (whose outside corner faces due south) enjoys the benefits of the large solar overhangs: bountiful sun in winter, shade in summer. The double-peninsula kitchen opens into the family room. A box bay in the master suite and a small potting shed addition complete the picture.
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Stuart H. Sachs,
Landscape Architect
Before
Fairfield, 1991
Ciocci & Sons, G.C.
Stair details. At times, the Building Code generates wonderful art!
Before
The addition houses the family room, with homework space, over a new garage, and a new family entrance. The old house's floor plan was extensively reconfigured to create a huge kitchen, with views of both front and back yards, opening to a dramatic corner stair.
A "Cape reclamation," this project involved several very small additions which rectified a bad 70s addition to this 1901 Cape. Inside, an amazing family room/kitchen was created, full of light and featuring natural wood and stone. Featured in Jane Gitlin's book Updating Capes.
Fairfield, 1996
Ciocci & Sons
General Contractor
Before
Before
The steep slope of this site permitted a three story addition that does not overwhelm the land. The master suite is airily unified by a dramatic ceiling.
The addition of a breakfast room and screened porch successfully married a 60s ranch house with its 70s shed-roofed addition. The kitchen and family entrance were also extensively renovated, and united with a once-remote family room.
This breakfast room gets sunlight from all four exposures, and links the kitchen to the backyard around the 70s family room via a rail-less mahogany deck.
This very 50s ranch was transformed into a charming half-Cape. The entrance was redfined, two bedrooms on the first floor became a master suite, and a bedroom and study were added on the second floor.
Bringing a Cape back to life. New dining room, kitchen, powder room, master bath and fourth bedroom, all done without the owners moving out during construction.
Greenwich, 1990
Ciocci & Sons, G.C.
All about openness: the addition of this library/sunroom steps down and opens the house to long views of Fairfield's salt marsh.
A full-glass corner, transom windows on all four walls, and French casements welcome the outside in. The mahogany deck completes the gentle transition from house to grass.
Apro Builders Inc.,
General Contractor
All about openness: The addition of this library/sunroom steps down and opens up to the yard, with a long view into Fairfield's salt marsh
Trumbull,1993
Ciocci & Sons, G.C.
Waterbury, 1989
George and Paul Sills, builders
Trumbull, 2008
This large addition (including kitchen, breakfast room, and family room on the first floor, master suite and bathrooms above) included a second floor "smoker's balcony" off the new master suite, which did not require supports below.
Fairfield, 2011
Lanese Construction, G.C.
Wilton, 1987
Harvey & Layda, G.C.
Period details turned the back of this 1917 bungalow into a showpiece.
French casement windows open fully over the wraparound stone planter, giving this kitchen a verandah-like feeling.
New Canaan, 2012
Don Harris, General Contractor
Fairfield, 2003
Apro Builders Inc., G.C.
Gambrel ("barn-style") roofs can be difficult to work with, but this large ell addition seamlessly melds old and new.
The extraordinary challenge of adding to a house that was already "perfect:" a new master suite on a landmark 1929 Tudor
Westport,1997
Stuart H. Sachs,
Landscape Architect
Large family room addition over existing garage, with handicap accessibility to first floor.
Fairfield, 1988
Ciocci & Sons, G.C.
Brooklyn, N.Y., 1986
Emil Kratz, Builder
Complete renovation of 1870s rowhouse - twelve feet wide - into a two-family home.
Fairfield, 2002
Tom Kapetan, Builder
Westport, 2002
Apro Builders Inc., G.c.
A bright kitchen with a 15' ceiling is the highlight of this house. Connected to a large family room with a massive brick fireplace, and wide open to the spacious backyard, this space is the heart of the home.
New porch and period windows
This 1200 square foot addition, containing four bedrooms and two baths, brought the house in tune with its sloped site. On the first floor, a foyer with stair was created, and a large family room opening to the backyard was made from the old master suite.
This 1810 Federal Style house was woefully out-of-date and had suffered serious structural damage. Creating a kitchen and breakfast room opening to the little-used screened porch completely reinvigorated the house.
Southport, 1989
Ciocci & Sons, G.C.
A marvelous family room and office tops the rebuilt garage, with great gables and beautiful windows viewing the woods and neighboring farm.
Fairfield, 2006
Before
Before - no roof
Of paramount importance was life safety. Each unit was designed to have two means of egress from each floor; camouflaging continuous stairs was difficult, but achieved. Also essential was the intent of giving almost every living unit its own front door, so that each family could feel "This is my home."
1888 Victorian converted to 4 units.
Before
1875 Empire style converted to 5 units.
1856 Italianate and 1901 Georgian converted to 3 and 2 units, respectively.
Bridgeport's Washington Park was in dire straits in the mid-90s. A courageous public-private initiative saved the neighborhood by rehabilitating 11 historic houses, most with extensive fire damage, into 35 housing units. This office designed each house, with the aims of preserving historic integrity and providing decent living conditions.
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Stuart H. Sachs, Landscape Architect
Walter Gebuza, General Contractor
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Making sense of the rigid symmetry of the right side of the original house, a new roofline over a kitchen addition brings the scale down to one story, where the attached cabana and screened porch ensconce the new pool.
Before
"Just a front porch," but a landmark along busy Stillson Road.
