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The courtyard divides the "bi-nuclear" house into adult areas and children's areas, including a playroom.

Surrounded by a canopy of trees, the house is bordered by a deep overhang that matches the width of the concrete terrace. “What I like is that the decks and the courtyard are visually part of the house, but they’re outdoor spaces,” says Ted. Heid worked with Curtis Bosworth and John Weed of WBS Construction on the project.

The Heids incorporated mostly native plants into the courtyard, which Andrew designed as an ovoid decagon. The George Nelson Platform bench is from Design Within Reach. Solarban low-e glass improves insulation. The layout, says Andrew, is meant to “bring people together.”

To integrate the former postman’s cottage with the new design, architect David Sheppard added a concrete column adjacent to an existing stone chimney and a new slate chimney “at the heart of the composition.” From this, the roof structure fans out; the small structure now serves as an anteroom.

"We didn't realize the exterior was straight-grain redwood," says Craig Bassam of the house he shares with Scott Fellows. "It was covered in layers of gray paint." Bassam replaced the terrace's concrete pavers with bluestone and removed a concrete-block wall.

“The house is a piece of origami made out of triangular shapes, which we then draped over the landscape,” says Arbel.