Carroll Gardens Townhouse Backyard

Brooklyn, NY, USA.

Designed 2018. Construction complete 2020.

Studio SJ rewrote the owner’s brief on this one!  The owners initially asked only for help restructuring a very old building extension on the garden level and using a new glass door and kitchenette package they’d already purchased.  They also hoped to make the new roof walkable and to access it via the existing stair.  The extension had grandfathered status in the zoning code but it extended into the required rear yard, so it could not be torn down entirely without losing the right to the square footage. 

Studio SJ developed a design that featured super-insulated walls and gained some extra inches for the terrace above, using NYC’s Zone Green law which permits extra extension into required yards for the purposes of insulation.  In order to resolve the various levels and pull the rear elevation into a cohesive composition, we also proposed a custom spiral stair, featuring a custom guardrail and plant corner.  What seems like an obvious design now required creative synthesis under many constraints. 

Team: Silman (structural engineers); Enthink LLC (special inspections); Epitome Simms (architectural assistant)

Photography by Alec Kugler

Garden level kitchen by Reform. Parlor kitchen by Team 7.