2016 Home Tour

The design and construction of this project was guided by the client’s mantra, “Open, honest, and transparent.” The narrow double flag lot presented a real challenge in terms locating the main structure within the limited buildable area, dictating a linear two-story scheme at the vertex of the L-shaped lot, while placing the pre-fab accessory unit at the other end. The yard space created between the 2 structures emphasizes the intentional contrast of different styles living in harmony.

The form of the main residence was inspired by the honest simplicity of traditional farm houses, but the interiors are detailed with a modern sensibility – traditional materials used without unnecessary ornament that express the act of building with clean lines. The ample south-facing glazing and high ceilings combine to fill spaces with natural light.

The design of this home was inspired by the Owner’s fascination with the Southern California Case Study contemporary homes of the 1950’s which featured large expanses of glass, open floor plans and the concept of opening up interior spaces and bringing the outdoors in. Other stylistic elements include horizontal low profile roof planes, trellis structures, and exterior finish materials such as stucco, wood, steel and brick.

The design of the home was conceived through embracing the two front yards and connecting them by a circulation axis with endpoints that create two front entries at opposite ends of the home. At the center point of this axis, there is a long span of exterior wall that is all glass with operable doors. This wall opens to a large side-facing courtyard that defines a private outdoor living space complete with built in BBQ. The courtyard is enclosed on three sides with predominately glass exterior walls, flooding the interior of the home with natural light. A similar strategy was used at the three-story stair tower that extends from the basement to the second floor. The exterior wall of the stair is filled with glass bringing natural light into the interior spaces of the home.

Although the style of the home is distinctly modern, the interior is warm and inviting through the choice of finish materials, including vertical grain Douglas fir windows, doors and ceilings. And one of the most distinctive features is a full height brick masonry wall in the living room with earthen colored oversized brick in a stacked bond pattern.

OLH is a highly nuanced house. Significant earthwork restored natural grades to a large cut and fill area that scared the hillside 60 years ago. Sited between steep forest above and a 90 year old orchard and meadow below, the house is located in a corner of the site that utilizes the geography by carving strong, intimate space into the landscape taking advantage of spectacular cross-bay and valley views.

The materials and color pallet of the house is taken from the adjacent soils, gravels and trees. The house is energized by a 27kW PV array, utilizes low flow water fixtures, long overhangs protect reclaimed sinker cypress exterior rain screen walls, the mass of the ground floor and poured in place concrete wall (with no snap ties) helps modulate the interior temperature in the largest space of the house and the house is cooled naturally without mechanical systems supported by the stair well with automated windows to draw air through the house.

OLH is a highly nuanced house. Significant earthwork restored natural grades to a large cut and fill area that scared the hillside 60 years ago. Sited between steep forest above and a 90 year old orchard and meadow below, the house is located in a corner of the site that utilizes the geography by carving strong, intimate space into the landscape taking advantage of spectacular cross-bay and valley views.

The materials and color pallet of the house is taken from the adjacent soils, gravels and trees. The house is energized by a 27kW PV array, utilizes low flow water fixtures, long overhangs protect reclaimed sinker cypress exterior rain screen walls, the mass of the ground floor and poured in place concrete wall (with no snap ties) helps modulate the interior temperature in the largest space of the house and the house is cooled naturally without mechanical systems supported by the stair well with automated windows to draw air through the house.