Five and a half years ago, Gabor Cselle and Erica Kochi visited a 1930s cottage for sale in Berkeley, California, and it was love at first sight. They weren’t enthralled with the house, however—but rather the lot that it sat on. “It had huge boulders, which is pretty unusual, and really interesting gardens,” says Erica. “It was basically the opposite of a generic lot—it had a lot of space, and just felt so peaceful.”

The couple were living in San Francisco at the time and looking for a piece of land there to build on—the Berkeley home was for Erica’s mother—but they hadn’t had any luck in their search. “We weren’t planning to live in Berkeley, but we ended up spending a lot of weekends at the house,” says Erica. “We were having a really hard time finding anything that was suitable to build on, but we had a great lot in the East Bay—so we decided to focus on that instead.”

They decided to enlarge the Berkeley cottage so everyone could live there comfortably—including themselves, their two children, and Erica’s mom—while preserving the best qualities of their special lot.

Before: Front Exterior

After: Front Exterior

From the start, it was essential to the couple to preserve the site. They interviewed a few architects, all of whom suggested expanding into the yard, which would eliminate a play area used by the children. Then, they met with Kathryn Rogers at Sogno Design Group, after seeing one of the firm’s projects on an AIA homes tour.

“She was standing there on the grass and she said, ‘Wow, this is really special,’” remembers Gabor. “And her eyes lit up, and it was just so clear that we should work with her. No one else had really gotten the magic of it.”

Rogers started her career with the intention to focus on landscape design, but went into architecture instead. “I have very mixed feelings about covering the land and building over it,” says Rogers. “I felt it was really important to preserve as much of the landscape as we could, seeing that it was one of the most unique things about the property.”

Before: Rear Exterior

After: Rear Exterior

The redesign expands on the original cottage significantly, yet the project is tucked in neatly amongst the trees and giant boulders so that it doesn’t overwhelm the site or the surrounding neighborhood. Rogers essentially converted the original home into a lower level, which includes a formal entry, a media room, bedrooms, a main suite, and an independent suite for Erica’s mom. A new upper level holds all of the shared living spaces and an office.

Erica is half Japanese, and it was important to for her to incorporate elements of Japanese design. To that end, the group paid close attention to the formal entryway. “We’re a shoes-off household, and one of the things that drives me crazy in Europe and the U.S., is that there’s nowhere to put your shoes when you come in the door,” she says. “In Japan, the entryway is a key part of the house—it’s called a genkan, and there’s a clear delineation between the outside area and the inside area.”

At the home’s entrance, a large window with its sill dropped to the floor connects the interior foyer to the exterior porch, both of which are covered in slate tile for a continuous feel. A custom white oak built-in with a slatted sliding door conceals shoes, while a nearby bench provides a convenient perch. A step up (and a floor material change) further delineates the entry from the rest of the house.

Before: Entry

After: Entry

Before: Living Room and Dining Room

After: Main Rooms

After: Office

After: Roof Deck

Before, only one room in the house captured the site’s amazing city views—but now multiple rooms, as well as the deck, can now share in the vista. At the lower level, new windows frame up-close glimpses of the large boulders, and walkway “bridges” create the impression that the house is hovering over the landscape that the couple were so enamored of on their first visit.

“You take your coffee and step out on the deck, and the coffee’s nice and warm, and it’s a brisk Berkeley morning before the sun really comes in,” says Gabor of a typical morning at home. “It’s all just really magical.”

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

After: Primary Suite

More Before & After stories:

A Towering Library Becomes the Beating Heart of an Architect’s Home

An Architect Upgrades a Blah Berkeley Bungalow With a Stylish Addition

Project Credits:

Architecture: Sogno Design Group

Builder: Lawrence Construction, Inc.

Structural Engineer: Berkeley Structural Design

Civil Engineer: Geotecnia

Landscape Design: Farallon Gardens, Inc.

Interior Design: Sogno Design Group

Color Consultant: Cass Morris