ABSTRACT
An existing community arts centre on the edge of an arterial road leading to Palo Alto, California, required an extension to its existing facilities: the accommodation needed to be doubled in size and the obvious response was to adapt the original house. However, the property, built in the 1920s, was designed as a large family house and little had been altered despite the function having changed. There was little interest in making major alterations and simply leaving the shell; somehow the historic integrity of the old house was more important. Therefore attention was turned to a large area adjacent to the property that was currently used as a car park.
