Back to the House of the Future
When this home was built in 1979 in the Wonderland Hills neighborhood it was coined the “House of the Future.” It had a handful of major cutting edge construction details, such as an ‘ICF’ foundation,an energy efficient type of concrete foundation utilizing “insulated concrete forms.” It also had a groovy 4-season hot tub room with large south facing full height windows for passive solar heat gain. Despite some of the innovation, it was grossly outdated for what people want in a home today. For instance, the kitchen was tiny and pinched off from the rest of the house. The home is nestled right up against the mountains yet had no views.The primary suite was in the basement. In fact, there was no bedroom above ground at all. There was an upper level loft-type office space, but it got so stiflingly hot that it was uninhabitable for a good portion every year. The only way to access the secluded small backyard area was through a very slender sliding door. Lastly, the groovy hot tub was broken and the south facing passive solar glass was fogged out and inefficient.
Our solutions to these problems mainly fit into 2 main categories:
1. Reup on the upper level loft space to make a high-end primary suite.
2. Open up the main level and expand the floor area by building a floor system over the hot tub area.
Converting the stuffy loft into a luxury primary suite
While the existing home did have a 2-tier loft space, there were several things limiting the usage of this area. First off there wasn’t enough space for a bedroom, a primary bathroom and closet. We solved this by expanding out over the existing garage below. Secondly, we expanded the uppermost level to accommodate the new primary closet and bathroom. The new bedroom has a large double patio door that now sports incredible views of the foothills. We built a balcony with an opaque railing to provide privacy from the street but allows the homeowners to enjoy the views. To solve the hot, stale air in the space, we installed an entirely new ducted minisplit system solely to heat and cool the primary suite. The existing home’s forced air furnace remained to service the rest of the house, and we capped off any return/supply air from this existing furnace into the loft space. This system’s thermostat lives in the primary bedroom and gives the homeowners complete control of this area of the house.
Creating A Generous And Open Main Level Out Of A Funky Hugh Hefner Style Hot Tub Room
One floorplan element of the existing home that really limited possibilities was the large hot tub area. This tub lived in the basement but was connected to the house via a fully vaulted greenhouse type space that extended up to the main level. We saw massive potential in the volume of this space. Our idea was to ditch the hot tub and convert this space into a lower level rec room and a larger main level living/dining/kitchen area. We accomplished this by extending the main level floor framing over the hot tub area, and building a spiral staircase that connected the new lower level rec room to the expanded main level.
Our redesign helped convert the “House of the Future” into a truly modern, functional layout with energy efficiency. It’s now a wonderful home in Wonderland Hills.