Before & After: An Architect Does It All for a 1967 Split-Level in Bozeman
Open Studio Collective founder Allison Bryan was both architect and builder on her dream home, infusing the gut job with playful curves, abundant light and textured surfaces.
Open Studio Collective founder Allison Bryan was both architect and builder on her dream home, infusing the gut job with playful curves, abundant light and textured surfaces.
In 2019, Architect Allison Bryan was wooed to Bozeman, Montana to become a creative director for a large architecture firm. Six years earlier, she had founded her own award-winning design firm Open Studio Collective in Portland—drawing from not just her architecture experience but years as a retail designer for Nike. She realized she liked being her own boss, and decided to restart OSC in Montana, even convincing many of its former employees to rejoin her.
A photo of the split-level house just before Allison Bryan and Nicholas Smith's purchase.
Aaron Burnett
After initially settling in a downtown Bozeman condo, Allison and her husband, architect Nicholas Smith, started looking for a centrally-located house to share with their daughter Ada, be it a renovation or a lot to build on. But they experienced both sticker-shock and scarcity, initially unable to find a new landing spot amidst the city’s feverish residential real-estate market. (According to the National Association of Realtors, as of July 2024, Montana’s median home prices were the fifth-highest in America, after Hawaii, Massachusetts, California and New York.)
Looking further out from city-center Bozeman, they found a circa-1967 split-level home in the New Highlight View neighborhood, with its tall trees and ample walking-biking trails. The house needed work and was barely within their price range, but it gave them the opportunity they sought.
Before: Entry Foyer
The home when purchased included walls and, at the entry foyer, a coat closet that Allison eyed for removal.
Aaron Burnett
After: Entry Foyer
The new foyer is more open and bright, and the removed closet and stairway wall allow the light to fill the rest of the space. The pendant is by Copenhagen's &Tradition.
Photo: Gibeon Photography
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: An Architect Does It All for a 1967 Split-Level in Bozeman
