The family's wish list was ambitious: five bedrooms, six and a half bathrooms, a gym, a home office, and a rooftop deck that could see the river. The site was the constraint and the opportunity at the same time.

The approach: retain the basement and foundation, strip everything above grade, and build two distinct volumes connected by a stair tower. This allowed the house to rise above the topography rather than fight it.

The stair tower became the project's organizing gesture — not just circulation but a light well, a connector, and a design feature visible from the street. The house makes its logic available from the outside.

The primary suite captures the river views the site was always capable of offering. A rooftop deck provides the elevation for stargazing, and the two volumes hold the public and private halves of the house on either side of the climb between them.

The family that had lived in the house for twenty years now lives in a house that finally matches the life they've built. The views they'd always known were possible are now the first thing they see in the morning.

This site had been making a case for this house for decades. The design was finally ready to listen.