At the time, Jisoo and her husband, Chong Doo Lee, weren’t looking to leave their home in Potomac, Maryland. “I was comfortable here,” says Jisoo. “I like that it’s modest. If someone owns a small house in this neighborhood, they tear it down and build a big house or McMansion.
The empty nesters had lived in the same house since 1998 and had many memories of family celebrations with their two daughters (Jennifer’s sister, Michele Torrecilla, lives nearby with her family). But the house, which consisted of a one-room stone cabin with a two-story addition, was not feasible as a long-term solution as it aged.
“As they got older, we anticipated the next logical steps, like eliminating stairs and making the house easier to maintain,” says Jennifer.
With that in mind, she began planning a large-scale renovation of the house with Pablo Castro, her husband and partner in the New York-based firm Obra Architects. “The main goal of the project was to create a dignified place for them to spend their final years,” Jennifer explains. “My mother was conscious of the fact that she was in her 70s and she wanted this done so she would have a few years to enjoy the house. This was back when we started – pre-Covid.
His parents moved into his sister’s basement while the work began. But on the evening of Chong Doo’s birthday in May 2020, just as the demolition was beginning, Jisoo fell ill with covid. The next day, she was admitted to the hospital, where she was intubated and remained in intensive care for 56 days. “Several times the medical staff asked us if we wanted to give up, but we weren’t even ready to consider it yet,” says Jennifer. Jisoo moved to two other hospital settings before finally being weaned off the ventilator.
Jisoo finally returned home on September 11, 2020, but she was still unable to get up or walk on her own. She and Chong Doo moved out of Michele’s basement and into her room so Jisoo could recuperate as their home renovation project began. “My sister basically looked after my mother with her 24-hour attention,” says Jennifer. Soon, Jennifer and Michele realized that talking about home helped lift their mother’s spirits in the darkest days. The renovation became a hopeful rallying point for the whole family.
“The beginning of the construction of this house and the possibility of its recovery, which then seemed distant, were somehow intertwined,” says Jennifer. “We all felt that hope and held on to it. At the same time, there was this ever-present uncertainty about whether or not she would manage to complete the house. This became our biggest motivation to achieve this.
So while Jisoo’s takeover was underway, the renovation was moving forward – at least as best it could amid a global supply chain collapse. “Building during the pandemic was problematic,” says Jennifer. “We experienced all the delays and excessive prices of construction materials, and labor was scarce. » Ultimately, they brought in Think Make Build as the contractor and Pillars Construction, who installed the house’s siding.
The architects’ plan was to restore the original stone hunting cabin and replace the two-story addition with a new contemporary single-story building, creating four areas: the main living space, a master suite, accommodations for guests and an office for Chong Doo. “We wanted to preserve the cabin because the masonry would be difficult to replicate today,” Castro says. “Plus, it’s a historic structure, so it has a real soul that we didn’t want to lose.”
Orienting the addition toward the rear of the hillside lot would take advantage of the landscape – the yard slopes down significantly toward a small section of Piney Branch Creek. “The existing addition did not realize the potential of the property in any meaningful way,” says Jennifer. “You wouldn’t even have known the house bordered a creek. It was as if someone had just demolished a house without trying to enter into dialogue with their environment.
For the addition’s exterior, the architects chose Korean enameled corrugated steel for its durability and the way its horizontal lines follow the landscape and evoke the layered siding of a more traditional home. To better connect the home to its lush wooded surroundings, they incorporated commercial-grade windows large enough to provide views of the property’s tallest trees.
“Windows were the most obvious luxury in the house,” says Castro. “When you’re in the house, you feel this incredible connection to the outside.” Nowhere is this connection more evident than in the master bedroom, which resembles a treehouse suspended by thin steel columns above the stream.
Large glass panels flood the interiors with natural light and provide sightlines that stretch from the forest floor to the sky. To allow these views to be front and center, the architects chose discreet finishes for the interiors. Wide-plank white oak floors lend a warm glow throughout and complement the kitchen’s custom white oak cabinets, designed by Milan-based Giacomo Moor, a friend of Castro and Lee.
Although the interiors of the house were designed with accessibility in mind, this is not obvious to visitors. “My mother, who was in very good shape before she got sick, didn’t want a house that looked like a sick person’s house, but the arrangements are in place,” says Jennifer.
Everything is on one level and there are only a few steps in the house, which allows it to follow the lay of the land. Bathrooms are accessible, with widened doors to accommodate a wheelchair. And the master bathroom has a curbless shower, but there are no grab bars on the walls – they can be added if needed in the future. Durability was also a consideration. The house has solar panels, heated floors and LED lights.
It took almost three years, but in May 2023 the renovation was complete. Jisoo has moved into the house with Chong Doo and although she has come a long way in her recovery, she may never fully regain her pre-Covid energy. She can no longer walk long distances or participate in the yoga classes she once loved, even though she gets stronger every day.
“Witnessing his recovery was inspiring to all of us, as we were able to see his fighting spirit in action,” says Castro.
In fact, during her time with Michele, she threw away her walker as soon as she could walk on her own. “We found it on the sidewalk of my sister’s house,” Jennifer laughs. “The same thing happened to the foot brace they gave him.”
These days, Jisoo spends her days watching wildlife through windows and listening to the rhythms of the wind and stream. In fact, she’s become an amateur videographer: she loves filming the neighborhood deer coming out to dine and the blue heron soaring through the trees. She sends these videos to her daughters with comments.
“I love being able to experience all seasons in this house,” she says. “Since I got sick, I stay at home all the time, but because I love this place so much, I never want to leave.”
Michelle Brunner is a writer in DC who covers interior design and culture.
