Rebecca Rudolph and Colin Thompson
Originally a 500 sq.ft. cottage on an empty lot, the Atwater house has grown to include 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms as well as an office and several outdoor rooms. The intent has been to open up the house to the yard in a way that makes it feel much larger than its 1,150 sq.ft., avoiding dead-end spaces that feel removed from everyday use and the outdoors. The house and landscape are connected through the use of "hard" materials such as board-formed concrete walls/benches and a polished black slab floor, as well as "soft" materials including old fence boards, re-used for siding in the living room, and plywood as both flooring in the original house and paneling on the exterior of the addition. Completing the work ourselves has allowed for the inclusion of sustainable technologies like the green roof and a rainwater collection system. The house serves as a demonstration for a practical use of inexpensive and re-purposed materials as well as for the benefits of connecting indoor and outdoor living space.