The goal of the project was to simply add a staircase connecting the ground floor living spaces to an existing downstairs bedroom that was previously only accessed from the outside. The 150 sf addition creates a staircase that fills in the corner where the two portions of the house meet and connects the two levels, following the lines of the existing footprint of the house. All the while, the addition represents the environment outside by preserving a gigantic pine tree within one foot from the new foundation.