Page 68 - ArchDC_Spring 2021

The renovated house, with the addition containing
the exercise pool in the left foreground.

Modern
Modern

Wellness
Wellness All photos © Anice Hoachlander, except as noted

Fitness-Oriented Addition Anchors

Update of Mid-Century Gem

by G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Assoc. AIA

It’s an old trope: The shoemaker whose children go barefoot; toward the front and a curiously large notch cut out of one
the chef who pops open a frozen meal at home; the doctor who of the rear corners. That notch provided the perfect place for
fails to seek proper treatment for her own ailment. In the case the addition containing an Endless Pool—a pool with jets
Andrew Walen, it was a psychotherapist focusing on eating that provide resistance while the user swims in place—and a
disorders and body image who was constantly running among sitting area where Walen’s wife can meditate. One corner of the
his small chain of therapy centers, but lacked adequate facilities adjacent garage was enclosed to form a small vestibule linking
to support his own wellness at home. His mid-century modern the new exercise room to the existing kitchen.
house was in need of some freshening anyway, so he called on Perhaps the biggest question in the design of the addition
Rick Schneider, AIA, APA, LEED AP, of ISTUDIO Architects, was the treatment of the roof. “We decided that the new space
who had worked on several of Walen’s therapy centers, to was kind of a special place for our client,” said Schneider.
update the house and add a room for an exercise pool. “Instead of just completing the existing butterfly roof, we
The house is one of several hundred built by developer decided to celebrate the space. So we lifted the entire roof of the
Gordon E. Sugar in the Stevenson Road area of Pikesville, addition over the existing house and then gave it a sharp angle.
Maryland, beginning in the late 1940s. Virtually all of them are It seemed like the right gesture for the rear of the house, which
one-story ranches with flat or nearly flat roofs and abundant had been kind of plain before.” The new roof is supported by
glass. Despite those common characteristics the houses are exposed glue-lam beams with the same spacing as the exposed
remarkably varied, and each is uniquely situated on its lot. beams in the existing house, except for the outermost one, which
Walen’s house had a shallow butterfly roof and was is splayed to support the acutely angled corner of the projecting
rectangular in plan except for two slightly projecting wings roofline. A slanted steel strut, painted bright red, holds up one
66 MODERN WELLNESS