Like many small residential practices Illinois-based Cohen & Hacker Architects have made a career of doing house additions. In a practice spanning almost 40 years they have evolved strategies for making additions that represent both a theoretical and philosophical position about altering older buildings. They believe that recycling existing houses, retrofitting them to meet new energy standards, preserving their embodied energy as well as their cultural significance is the most sustainable way to practice architecture. The projects included in this book seamlessly and often invisibly extend the fabric of an existing house. Cohen & Hacker’s remodelled architectural interiors, while respectful of the character and scale of the existing house, transform these spaces with ideas taken from modern design, creating spatially open floor plans with traditional details based on the existing architecture.

To help illustrate what Cohen & Hacker describe as transformation, this book contains before and after floor plans and often exterior elevation drawings for every project. Almost every residential addition project and remodeling includes photos of new kitchens and bathrooms, a staple typical of small residential practices. From the largest to the smallest project the same care and attention to detail characterises their work.