Ms. Mesquite and Mr. Viita bought a new house in Alexandria, VA to accommodate their growing family. They like their house; however, they wanted to change its interior partitioning and its exterior appearance, the one facing the lower street.

The main entrance of the residence currently is from the upper level with no view of the street since it is on a higher level; however, the back of the house is fully exposed to the lower street. The client wanted to utilize the exposed back level as the main front entrance of the residence. Their aspired result is to move the hidden front entrance to the back of the house which is completely exposed to the lower street.

Bitarchitects was commissioned to plan and re-organize the interior partitioning of the whole two-story house while creating a separate Accessory dwelling unit on the lower level. The ADU will have its separate entrance and features; while the lower level of the house will accommodate the new entrance towards the main living room with a bar area and main working office space, a stair will lead to the more private functions which are on the upper level.

The repartitioning of the space on this level will accommodate three full bedrooms with one guest bedroom, a living space, a dining room, and an open kitchen with a kid’s playing area that is linked to a main deck.

The exterior design of the residence will be composed of an addition to the upper and lower levels along with a main centralized deck that will emphasize the centricity and focus on the main entrance of the house, facing the lower street.

In this way, Bitarchitects achieved all the client’s aspirations.

Client:

M. Mesquite

Project Location:

Alexandria, VA 

Project Type:

Residential: 1 Family House

Project Valuation:

1,170,379.00 SF

Built-Up Area:

3,216 SF

Construction Type:

Type III

Project Zoning:

R-8

Number of Floors:

2

Building Code:

2018 Virginia Construction Code