Fillmore Street Addition, Denver, CO

Architect: Nest Architectural Design, Inc., Denver, CO, 303-321-1268, www.nestarch.com

Before Nest’s architects got their hands on this 1906 Denver Square, the kitchen was poorly organized, too small for entertaining—or even cooking large meals—and cut off from the backyard. The homeowner, a well traveled college professor, wanted a place to host her family and friends that felt like it was part of the yard, where she planned to cultivate a Japanese garden. She wanted a place that would allow her to escape—mentally and physically—from everyday life.

Nest’s architects dreamed up two wildly different concepts for the remodel; the client dubbed one of the concepts “Audrey Hepburn” and the other, “J-Lo.” Lovely and traditional or unexpected and avant-garde? The client chose J-Lo.

The concept is actually a riff on a Japanese pavilion. The addition is a simple cubic form that relates subtly to the Denver Square—and is not visible from the street. The new space is distinguished from the rest of the house by a single, blank granite step and a cherry wood-cased portal.

Inside the kitchen, natural light floods the space from three sides. The north-facing window frames a view of Buddha and a teak bench in the Japanese garden. A large pair of sliding glass doors open to the veranda to the south. In the center of the room stands a wenge table—a unifying element that invites guests to gather around.

The kitchen’s materials warm the space and create cohesion. Dark soapstone counters define the main work surfaces, while the cherry wood crown moulding creates a strong, horizontal element that relates to the door and window heads and the custom cherry cabinets. Pocketing cherry shoji screens temper the light, frame views and offer privacy, and on cherry shelves, the homeowner displays treasures she’s gathered during her travels.

On the exterior, blond brick relates to the original home’s modular masonry; the brick’s color clearly identifies the space as new, but it relates to the stucco watertable and mortar on the existing house. And the checkerboard brick pattern of at the heads of the door and windows is a nod to the panel of the same detail found on the home’s front façade.

The architects masterfully created a space that feels fresh and bold but not foreign alongside the home’s original architecture. The smart use of materials, excellent space-planning and strong relationship between the outdoors and the addition made this project an obvious winner.