The Annex is a project designed by Martin Fenlon Architecture in 2018, covers an area of 960.0 ft2 and is located in Hermon, Los Angeles, California, United States. Photography by John Linden.

Once a crowded property with an aging bungalow and a commercial storefront, this live/work complex accommodates the architect’s growing family and practice. The expansion to the recently remodeled bungalow includes a new family room, exterior courtyard and deck, an attic conversion and stair hall. The storefront building, with its several bootleg additions, previously took up half of the site, exceeding the allowable floor area for the property and leaving little open space. In order to make space for the new yard and the 620 square feet of additions to the house, over 600 square feet of the storefront was demolished. To keep costs down, the architect did all of the construction with the help of a two-man crew over the course of almost 5 years.

After the initial bungalow remodel, the attic was converted to a habitable floor consisting of a new bedroom and den. In order to provide access to these new rooms, a compact stair hall was added to the side of the house which leaves a minimal footprint. The ascent up the new spiral staircase is flooded in natural light from the skylight above while connecting to the new exterior deck below.

A spacious family room was added between the house and storefront, connecting the two and forming the new courtyard. The new roof deck, built atop the family room addition, is also accessed by the new stair hall. The family room and stair hall are clad in the same materials as the original house remodel; torched cedar, clear cedar and white plaster. The expansion transitions the original house to the new yard and existing storefront, making one integral with the other. It maintains a separate identity from the original house and storefront while obscuring the boundaries of inside and outside.