The Boat House

In 2007 Rhodes Architecture + Light was thrown the challenge of renovating an older brick cottage in Magnolia while adding a new entry, new bedroom suite and a garage. The catch: the garage had to have space for a 32 foot wooden ketch and trailer and allow the owners to work on the boat during the winter. The scale of the garage and bedroom additions threatened to overwhelm the small cottage. The owner wanted to create an inner courtyard with room for a future pool as well.

A model used as a design tool illustrates our solution. A series of one-story walls clad in brick and European cement panel siding create the envelope for the new bedroom suite, boat house garage, and create a private central courtyard. A single sloped shed roof built of wood decking over wood beams supported on steel columns and beams shelters the new complex and ties the various elements and materials together. Three metal clad roof monitors rise above the simple shed roof brining light in to the new entrance, bedroom suite, and boat work area. Glass inserted between the new sheltering roof and one-story walls brings light in to the interiors of the house and bedroom suite. The overall composition of materials is simple but rich in color and texture and by combining brick, glass, cement panels, and the roof structure the various elements work together to create a single composition.