Project Description

Bei Ricordi : Italian for “Happy Memories”

For this lovely project, located in DC’s Logan Hill neighborhood, we transformed a rowhouse’s backyard into multiple areas of functional spaces, while evoking fond memories of the owners Italian homeland. We immediately took advantage of the urban space by creating two levels: one with a primarily functional use as the parking area and the other as a elegant but easy to use living space.  Initially the client requested a traditional grill area, but after meeting with the owners and getting to know their lifestyle and culinary interests, Mark recommended a more complete outdoor kitchen complete, (and to the owners’ delight) eliminated the need to run in and out of the party since refrigeration, prep space and gourmet cooking power are all built in to maximize space, function and ease of entertaining.

Another area the Client chose to upgrade was the quality level of the parking area so when entertaining larger groups, by moving the car onto the street, the parking space doubles as a party space without skipping a beat.

To bring back memories from beloved Italian gardens, we trained climbing roses to our “stucco” walls, which we created by mixing sand into the wall paint, giving the walls some age and texture.