Favorites

Perforated aluminum screens provide shade and privacy for the top-level courtyards.

To ensure acoustic separation between the homes, the living spaces are located at either end, while service spaces are stacked adjacent to the central wall.

The open-riser stairs reduce visual mass and allow light to filter down to the lower levels.

The homes feature split-level floor plans. Inside, the open interiors evoke the flow of much larger homes.

Clarissa and Peter live in one of the units and plan to rent the second unit, which is almost a mirror image of the first.

Clarissa Nam and Peter McNeil of COMN Architects were able to attain homeownership and offset the majority of their expenses through sweat equity by subdividing their lot and building an additional house on the land.

Folding doors open the home’s dining room up to a large deck. Developed collaboratively with architects, Kolbe’s VistaLuxe Collection includes a wide selection of windows and doors, with low-maintenance extruded aluminum exteriors and warm wood interiors.

Nicole and her daughter enjoy the family’s kitchen, which features a large marble-clad island to ground the space. Adding to the kitchen’s bright and airy feeling are two large picture windows in place of upper cabinetry.

Main bathroom

Roof deck for taking in the growing skyline and cooling off on the cold desert nights.

Hidden room behind a bookcase door

In the master bathroom, a Duravit tub and pair of sinks are surrounded by black and white Crossville tile.

The master bathroom’s countertops are detailed with the same Carrara marble seen in the kitchen. The faucet and shower trims are by Kallista.

Opposite the inner courtyard and master bedroom, the bathroom enjoys a view of the lush garden space. Polished concrete floors and walls, and white Carrara counters offer cohesion with the rest of the home. American Standard plumbing fixtures and reclaimed midcentury pendant lamps round out the space.

The new master bathroom also benefits from its position along the canted exterior wall. The couple initially envisioned a tub for the space, but realized during the design process that it would pose a functional challenge when paired with a push-out casement window. Bringing in valuable light and air, the casement window remained in the final design, while the tub was changed to a shower. The geometric bathroom features a custom walnut vanity by the Building Workshop, ash porcelain tile floor, and Modwalls Lush glass wall tile.

White Thassos floor and wall tile from thassos.com lines the bathroom surfaces. The vanity is custom, the sink and shower faucets are from Lacava, and the sink is Decolav. Photo by Frank Oudeman.

Adjacent to the bedroom, the bathroom features microcement-coated walls, along with a custom sink and vanity. Dornbracht Tara sink faucets and dual rainfall showerheads finish the space.

In the bathroom, the architects mounted a Kohler sink on a sloped, custom-slate countertop. Since the stone doesn’t hold up well in water, the architect switched to black mosaic tile in the shower. The faucets are from Cabano’s Century series.