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At the time, Jisoo and her husband, Chong Doo Lee, didn’t want to leave their home in Potomac, Maryland. “I feel comfortable here,” Jisoo said. “I like how low-key it is. If someone has a small house in this area, they tear it down and build a big house or mansion.”
The empty-nesters have lived in the same house since 1998 and have had many family celebrations with their two daughters (Jennifer’s sister Michele Torrecilla and her family living nearby). But the house, which consisted of a one-room stone house and two floors, was not viable as a long-term solution as it aged.
“As they get older, we anticipate next logical steps, such as eliminating stairs, to make the house easier to maintain,” Jennifer said.
With this in mind, she began planning a complete renovation of the house with her husband, Pablo Castro, a partner at Obra Architects in New York City. “The main purpose of the project was to create a place worthy of spending their final years,” Jennifer said. “My mother realized she was in her 70s and wanted to get this done so she could have a few years to enjoy the house. That’s when we first started — before COVID.”
During construction, her parents moved into her sister’s basement. But on the night of Chong Doo’s birthday in May 2020, as demolition began, Jisoo contracted the coronavirus. The next day, she was admitted to the hospital, intubated, and stayed in the ICU for 56 days. “The medical staff asked us several times if we wanted to give up, but we weren’t ready to consider that,” Jennifer said. Jisoo was moved to two other hospitals before finally being taken off a ventilator.
On September 11, 2020, Jisoo finally returned home, but she still could not stand or walk on her own. She and Chong Doo moved from Michele’s basement to her bedroom so Jisoo could recover while renovations were being done on their house. “My sister basically took care of my mother’s health through 24-hour care,” Jennifer said. Soon, both Jennifer and Michelle realized that talking about the house helped lift their mom’s spirit during the darkest days. The renovation became a hopeful gathering point for the family.
“The start of the house and the possibility of her recovery seemed distant at the time, but somehow they were intertwined,” Jennifer said. “We both felt hope and persevered. At the same time, whether she would be able to finish the house There’s always uncertainty about completion. That became our biggest motivation to get this done.”
So while Jisoo’s recovery is underway, so is the reinvention — at least as much as possible given the collapse of global supply chains. “Building during a pandemic is problematic,” Jennifer said. “We experienced delays and overprices for building materials, and labor was scarce.” Ultimately, they selected Think Make Build as the contractor, and Pillars Construction installed the exterior of the home.
The architect’s plan was to restore the original stone hunting lodge and replace the two-story addition with a new single-story modern cabin, creating four areas: the main living area, the master suite, a guest room and Chong Doo’s study. “We wanted to preserve the cabin because the masonry is difficult to replicate today,” Castro said. “Plus, it’s a historic building, so it has some real soul and we don’t want to lose that.”
Orienting the addition to the rear of the hillside lot would take full advantage of the views—the yard slopes sharply down to a small section of a pine tree tributary. “The existing extension does not realize the potential of the property in any significant way,” Jennifer said. “You wouldn’t even know the house was adjacent to a creek. It’s as if someone just tore down a house without trying to have any dialogue with its surroundings.”
For the extension’s exterior, the architects chose enamel-coated corrugated steel from Korea for its durability and the way its horizontal lines follow the landscape, recalling the overlapping siding of more traditional houses. To better connect the home to its lush woodland setting, they installed commercial-grade windows large enough to capture views of the home’s tallest trees.
“The windows are the most obvious luxury of this house,” Castro said. “When you’re in the house, you feel this incredible connection to the outside world.” Nowhere is this connection more evident than in the master bedroom, which resembles a treehouse suspended above the creek by thin steel columns.
Large glass panels flood the interior with natural light, extending views from the forest floor to the sky above. To allow these views to be the focal point, the architects chose quiet interiors. Wide-plank white oak floors give off a warm glow and coordinate with the kitchen’s custom white oak cabinets, designed by Castro and Lee’s friend Giacomo Moor of Milan .
While the home’s interior was designed with accessibility in mind, it’s not obvious to visitors. “My mom was in very good health before she got sick, and she didn’t want a house that looked like it was for someone who wasn’t well, but the rules were in place,” Jennifer said.
Everything is on one level and the home is just a few steps away, allowing it to follow the laws of the land. The bathroom is barrier-free and the doorways are widened to accommodate wheelchairs. The master bathroom has a curbless shower, but no grab bars on the wall – which can be added if needed in the future. Sustainability is also a consideration. The house features solar panels, radiant heat floors and LED lights.
It took nearly three years to complete the transformation in May 2023. Jisoo has settled into her home with Chong Doo, and while she’s made great progress in her recovery, she may never fully regain her pre-COVID energy. She can no longer travel long distances or attend the yoga classes she once loved, even though she is getting stronger every day.
“Witnessing her recovery is inspiring for all of us because we see her fighting spirit,” Castro said.
In fact, when she lived with Michelle, she got rid of her walker as soon as she could walk on her own. “We found it on the side of the road at my sister’s house,” Jennifer said with a laugh. “The same thing happened with the foot brace they gave her.”
These days, Jisoo spends her days gazing out the window at the wildlife and listening to the rhythm of the wind and stream. In fact, she’s become an amateur photographer: She enjoys documenting her neighbor’s deer as they come out for dinner and blue herons soar through the woods. She sent the videos to her daughters with comments.
“I love experiencing all seasons in this house,” she says. “I’ve been staying at home since I got sick, but because I love it here so much I don’t want to leave.”
Michelle Brunner is a writer based in Washington, D.C., focusing on interior design and culture.
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