# @dwellmagazine on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ2jo2UEWBJ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/67125335-dwellmagazine-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/547688164c.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-06-21T15:09:57.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Dwell (@dwellmagazine) — https://gondola.cc/dwellmagazine

## Caption

When a mid-project pivot suddenly added her parents to the household, an architect adapted the plan for both aging in place and raising two growing boys. Like many couples with a growing family, Bhavani Singal of workshopno5 and her husband found that with the birth of their second child, they suddenly needed more space. Luckily, friends of theirs were selling their home five minutes away. Bhavani and her husband went to look at the house—a one-story brick residence nestled between large oak trees—and saw potential. After closing on the property, Bhavani drew up plans to adapt it into a 3,500-square-foot home for her family of four, which includes two sons, ages 9 and 11, plus their pit bull mix, Lollipop. A few months later, Bhavani’s parents decided to make the move from India to Austin, and announced they had chosen to live with the architect and her family. “We were like, okay, good to know,” Bhavani says with a laugh. “And we quickly added another thousand square feet!” Working around the oak tree in the front yard (Austin has strict codes around building near trees with certain trunk diameters), and maintaining the footprint of the original house, Bhavani designed a two-story addition that houses the primary suite and the boys’ bedrooms and playroom, while the one-story volume, which includes preserved and rebuilt elements of the original house, hosts the public spaces—the kitchen, living rooms, offices, and dining area—as well as her parents’ suite. Adapted for her mother’s walker, with wide hallways and easy-to-reach shelving and drawers, this public zone is the home’s social hub. “It’s designed for three generations,” Bhavani says of the house. “It’s how my parents liked to live in India, how my husband and I and our children want to live now, and as they go through life and get older, we wanted to make it feel like we’re all living together, but not always in each other’s zones.” Read Bhavani’s entire #ConstructionDiary at the link in bio.
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Photos by robert_gomez
Story by rachelcgallaher
Builder/General Contractor streamlinegcllc

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constructiondiary

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