HABERAE HOMES

"Beauty results from naturalness, from simplicity, and from good proportions."

~ The Architects' Small House Service Bureau. 

Our Martin Street project located in the Midtown District of Reno is a text book lesson in urban infill.  Consisting of a mid-century style dentist office built in 1960 and a large parking lot in the rear of the property, we saw a great opportunity for infill development.  The dentist office has a unique wedge design more indigenous to Palm Springs than Reno and we decided to capitalize on that by transforming it into a two bedroom, one bath modern home.  As the existing zoning was commercial, we had to challenge the city of Reno to abandon conventional thinking and a narrow builidng code.  Eventually we were allowed to do the project provided it became multi-family and thus we transformed the parking lot into a duplex.

The duplex, with its matching wedge design, was situated in the opposite direction of the dentist office which not only anchored the new construction to the old, but also created a butterfly roof line when viewing the entire project from the street.  The duplex was also oriented away from the alley and toward a stand of large old maple and fruit trees to the east.  We located the double height living room windows in order to take advantage and reframe specific views of the landscape, almost as works of art. 

Because of the small footprint of the one bedroom, 1 bath duplex (700 square feet each side) the interiors had to be flexible and open.  The living-kitchen-dining area is overlooked by a loft, which can be utilized as a second bedroom or additional living or office space.  Modern IKEA kitchens include all appliances. 

The dentist office was essentially gutted .  Where the patients' waiting room once was is now a living room; the receptionist's office has become the kitchen.  The floors are hand scraped hardwood, and the ceilings sport our trademark corrugated metal.  The resulting two bedroom, one bath home attracted a lot of interest from local residents and was rented to some fine tenants even before the construction was complete.

Both the duplex and the front home are beautifully landscaped and include water features made by us from re-purposed scrap materials.   

the dentist office before...

 ...and after

rear lot before the duplex... 

...and after