Residential Conversion
Pelham, NY
Year: 2007
daSILVA Architects was asked to reconfigure an existing one-story commercial building and add two residential duplex units above it. The owners of the property grew up in the community and maintain a branch office for their business in one of the two ground floor spaces. They required that the reconfiguration be implemented without interrupting the operations of ground floor businesses.
Residential Addition
The two units (a two- and a three-bedroom apartment) were designed to the live-in owners’ specifications, and offer all the amenities of today’s luxury condominium units. They include great rooms with 15' ceilings, wood burning fireplaces, skylights, direct access to an outdoor terrace, and two bathrooms on the lower level. Since the building did not have a basement, an upper level was added to accommodate a large exercise/playroom, laundry room, and separate utility space. All materials and detailing are of superior quality—solid oak premium grade strip flooring throughout the units, and ceramic and stone tiles in the bathrooms, laundry rooms, and utility spaces.
The exterior palette of materials composed of granite and brick veneer, with cast stone trim and key stones, was carefully chosen to complement the materials and scale of the adjacent buildings. A metal barrel vault distinguishes this building from the others while maintaining a traditional appearance. The building was designed to comply with the latest building code revisions and mandatory state energy codes, including the installation of an automatic fire suppression system.