The steel stairwell that connects the garden-level patio with the new living space performs double duty as an anchor attached to the foundation.
Floor-to-ceiling windows in the bedroom create the sensation of being outside, as if the entire house is one platform deck strategically shielded from the elements.
The owner wanted an interior scheme that felt loft-like, so Rice and his team carved out the double-height space from the second floor to create the entryway aviary. The garage door feature adds urban grit to the space. “We made it seem less like an actual garage door and more like a panel that just slides straight up,” Rice says.
At the opposite end of the house, the soaking tub gets almost daily use. The bath and shower fixtures are by Dornbracht
An onsen, or Japanese soaking tub, with a private garden abuts the master suite.
The study faces the pool area.
Two black CH25 chairs by Hans Wegner mirror the baby grand piano behind them.
Upstairs, passive ventilation gets an assist from high-efficiency Emerson ceiling fans. Photo by Ken Pagliaro Photography.
The kitchen and dining area opens onto a patio. Photo by Ken Pagliaro Photography.
Shielding the bedroom from the courtyard, a black curtain affords privacy while the slotted window above the bed ensures that even when privacy is wanted, the room is bathed in light.
Landscape designer Bernard Trainor’s creative use of poured-in-place concrete pavers—such as off the living room, where they break up a low-maintenance lawn of June grass—give the irregularly shaped lot a sense of order. Foxtail ferns and blue chalk sticks, a succulent, lend dashes of color to the entry courtyard, while thyme makes for a fragrant accent between the pavers.
"Pulling the buildings apart allows what is not a big house to feel really big," says architect Jonathan Feldman of the sustainable retirement home he built for a couple in California. "Because of the ways it opens up, it feels much more expansive than it really is."
Thanks to its natural color, concrete also serves as a wonderful “blank canvas” for landscaping.
The entrance to the main pavilion is defined by a pivoting glass door from Fleetwood (above left). The stairs lead to the media loft, where Inga Sempé’s Ruché sofa for Ligne Roset breaks up the gray. Among the couple’s few directives were tall ceilings, which Feldman covered in low-cost plywood sheets.
Maximizing daylight is only one of the sustainable design strategies used in the Low/Rise residence.
The combined kitchen/dining room is finished with walnut cabinets while the clerestory windows are continued in the same format as the rest of the house.
Williamson strategically placed the windows and clerestories in places that would maximize daylight. The fireplace in the living room is clad with board-formed concrete.
The exterior of the Erica Residence is made up of smooth plaster, painted wood siding, stained cedar accent features, and board-formed concrete site walls.
The Low/Rise House is all about integrating use, form, and material. It responds sensitively to site, nature, and the neighborhood, while its stacked building design helps reduce resource consumption.
Throughout the house, you’ll find steel windows with wood cladding. Foldaway doors also make an appearance throughout the residence. The interiors were designed by Lorissa Kimm.
Looking from the kitchen, this view reveals the attached living and dining rooms that take full advantage of the A-frame design. The structure itself is made up of local stone, redwood, and bleached cedar siding.
All appliances in the kitchen are from Thermador, save for a Miele dishwasher. Bright white Caesarstone bounces yet more light into the space.
The home rises and falls across 7 levels to accommodate the contours of the site. While the exterior dry stacked stone, cedar siding, and wood trim echo the natural landscape, the red windows lend contrast and definition.
A few steps up from the living room, the open kitchen features a granite island, walnut cabinets, and stainless steel appliances. The surrounding clerestory windows usher in the light.
The glass walls of the living room fold back to create uninterrupted space between indoors and outdoors.
With windows looking out onto the second-story courtyard, the laundry/bathroom area has a custom-made and a picturesque view.
Tan built storage into every available corner of the house, including the stairs, each of which contains a drawer.