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.
![Before & After: An Architect Does It All for a 1967 Split-Level in Bozeman](https://images.dwell.com/photos/6133443737990074368/7231689110133121024/small.jpg?#)
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.
![](https://images.dwell.com/photos/6133443737990074368/7231689110133121024/large.jpg)
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](https://images.dwell.com/photos-6133443737990074368/7231706467483951104-medium/a-photo-of-the-split-level-house-just-before-allison-bryan-and-nicholas-smiths-purchase.jpg)
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.](https://images.dwell.com/photos-6133443737990074368/7231706323059531776-medium/the-home-when-purchased-included-walls-and-at-the-entry-foyer-a-coat-closet-that-allison-eyed-for-removal.jpg)
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, the removed closet and stairway wall allowing the light to fill the rest of the space. The hanging light is by Copenhagen's &Tradition.](https://images.dwell.com/photos-6133443737990074368/7231706701995290624-medium/the-new-foyer-is-more-open-and-bright-the-removed-closet-and-stairway-wall-allowing-the-light-to-fill-the-rest-of-the-space-the-hanging-light-is-by-copenhagens-andamptradition.jpg)
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