Deck Addition

Syracuse, New York    

This small project was designed and built by the office of Dan Hisel Design.  The deck provides the previously interior-bound owners with easy access to the outdoors.

Massive shingle forms contain the deck on either side, employing the materials and colors of the original house to integrate the new construction with the existing. Programmatic events then carve into these solid forms, creating a place to lounge, a niche for a Weber, a bridge to the kitchen, and a view into the backyard.

A row of slender pines along the rear property line was abstracted to find the spacing of the vertical posts of the steel-and-cable handrails.  Collapsing nature into structure and new form into old house, this deck moves in two directions to create a hyphen, bridging house and garden through the subtle moves of mimicry.

Detail of built-in bench