ReVISION HOUSE A model for retrofitting America’s existing housing stock.
Architectural designer Ray Rocha kept as much of the exterior intact as possible (see original house above) but did modify the entry and the shape and scale of the chimney to create a warm, welcoming feel. He then layered on an updated Napa-style look by spec’ing stone veneer, stucco, and a complementary toned roof.
Practical Transformation
The design program for the ReVISION retrofit show home helps a 1950s house better accommodate the lifestyle of today’s homeowner. By Cati O’Keefe
You’ve seen this house: tired façade, ineffi cient kitchen, dirty-grouted bathrooms, chopped-up fl oor plan, laundry in the garage. America is riddled with these humble houses in desperate need of cosmetic revival and major energy-effi ciency upgrades. As part of our VISION House series, we tackled one in the College Park neighborhood of Orlando. This ReVISION house (a companion project to our new-construction VISION house,
which is being built in the same community) is undergoing a deep energy retrofi t by builders Kim Foy and Jon Pleveich. Its initial HERS rating was 128, with the goal to get it to under 50. “We wanted to take a ranch style home and beautify it—give it a new style for
today’s buyers,” Pleveich explains. “We also want to show what you can do without adding a lot of square footage.” Pleveich and Foy enlisted the services of Raymond Rocha, an architectural designer
and principal of Catalyst Design. While the team originally wanted the house to be more traditional, Rocha took one look at what he had to work with and went in another direction. “With the 4:12 roof pitch, overhangs, lateral appearance of the windows, and shallow
height of the house, designing a traditional house would be overbuilding and changing the character of the house,” Rocha explains. He redesigned the one-story form into an updated Napa style. Rocha believes that street appeal is key to any remodel. “One of the most important
aspects was the entry and the fi replace portion of the front elevation,” he says. “Creating a house that could be built today without changing the character of the existing house enabled us to maintain much of the exterior.” The team spec’d stone veneer, stucco, and then topped the house with a cool roof product by MonierLifetile, a Boral Roofi ng Company. The original 1,800-square-foot house had three bedrooms and one and half baths.
22 GreenBuilder September 2010
The new design gives it four bedrooms and three and a half baths at 2,400 square feet.
“In the 1950s, when this house was
built, all the bedrooms were grouped together,” points out Foy. “With the new plan, the master is on the opposite side of the house and has its own master bath.” Rocha designed an addition to accommodate the new larger master suite and also stole space from an oddly located den. “The house had two family rooms right next to each other,” Foy notes. “It originally had a detached garage and the space resulted when they attached that garage to the house.” Along with the new master suite
and updating the kitchen and existing bathrooms, Rocha addressed a number of other design fl aws. He created a proper entry and foyer, brought the laundry room in from the garage, added a powder room, and created an 11’ by 20’ covered outdoor living space. “We maintained the general fl ow of the house while improving those areas,” Rocha says. “And the interesting part is that we were able to make the existing parlor a space that could fl ex as a formal dining room or simply remain a parlor.” The team included a family dining room off the kitchen, which they think is more likely to be used by busy home owners than a formal dining room. Rocha raised the ceiling height to
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