VERTICAL ANNEX

The owners of the residence, a two-storied family unit, wanted to add another floor for the soon to be expanding family.
On analysis of the existing building through a scanning process, the structure was found to be unfit to take the load of an extra floor.
As a design strategy, it was decided that columns would be erected on either side of the building and a structure of vierendeel girder be mounted on the columns and the extension built within.
Pile foundations 20 metres deep hold the 4 main double height columns on either side surpassing the height of the existing structure. The vierendeel girder structure, made in steel was prefabricated and assembled on site. The slabs are in deck-sheet and the walls are in foam-concrete to reduce weight of the overall structure.
Spanning more than 75 feet, this house has been designed to express the structural system imposed on it. Though the original building is in a minimal classical language, the new structure envelopes the existing and creates a dialogue between the old and the new.