Project Overview

Inspired by time’s ability to purposefully patina and alter materials, the changing tones of the façade are at the heart of the design concept for the home. Like a slowly honed piece of driftwood, new cedar rain screens on the street side facades beg for human touch as they draw light and views almost sensually into the interior spaces. The expansion of the home can similarly be compared to the effect of water over time on a piece of raw steel, as expressed by the weathered cor-ten of the renovated façade. The oxidation process causes the steel to expand naturally as water is absorbed, in the same way that this home has expanded in response to the needs and care of its energetic tenants. These natural materials speak to the home’s symbiotic expansion with deep and inviting hues and provide a raw and striking form on the site, gracefully juxtaposed with the quirky residential context of the established mountainside neighborhood.

The existing house faced the typological problems of small, segregated spaces with traditionally-sized windows. By opening the living areas and integrating layers of transparency into the design, the spatial boundaries of the home are purposely blurred, and at times, completely obliterated. The simple rectilinear plan of the existing home is now modified by a striking angular expansion, derived from the desire to preserve and respect a large oak tree in the front yard and also control the views to adjacent lots when approaching the home from the drive.