Hillside House

Tank Hill Residence floor plan — first floor

Tank Hill Residence floor plan — ground floor

Horizontally-oriented windows emphasize and frame sweeping San Francisco views. A careful manipulation of light, volume, and elevation, the home offers unique vantage points of the city in different ways—both panoramic and private.

The bright master bedroom, with vessel sinks and Caesarstone counters, also enjoys sweeping city views.

The master bedroom, on the top floor, offers panoramic views of the city, bay, and beyond.

The second floor powder room reflects the glass bridge above.

"From most areas of the living level, you can simultaneously see and experience both the towering trees to the north and sweeping city and bay view to the south," says Maniscalco. "The careful placement of this floor level and creation of this spacial experience was a real cornerstone of the project."

Interior finishes include wide-plank European white oak flooring, Pietra Serena limestone slab inlays, rift cut white oak cabinetry, and wax steel detailing.

Intimately tied to the steep topography, views and experiences change as one travels through the home. Traveling up the steep entry to the living level on the second floor, a soaring, double-height volume reveals itself, housing the home’s main social space—an open kitchen, living, and dining area.

The living room, positioned centrally on the second floor, has access to both the private backyard and northern city views.

The home's main entry—two levels off the street—forces guests to get intimately acquainted with the steep topography of the site. Although the home's residents have the option to enter via garage and interior stair, guests instead travel up exterior stairs at the corner of the site, passing the planted neighboring lot to reach the home's front door.

"To accentuate [the] seamless connection to the outdoors, we created a pair of retractable glass walls that meet at the corner. The effect when open is one of completely dissolving the corner and creating a feeling of being surrounded by nature," describes Maniscalco.

"The creation of a 'functionally active' series of retaining walls with our colleagues at Surfacedesign activates the space for use with an outdoor fireplace, bar-b-que, and climbing wall," notes Maniscalco.

Above the kitchen and dining room, a glass bridge connects bedrooms on the third floor. "The glass flooring allows the southern light to penetrate farther into the space, but also creates a special moment of pause to experience the scale and volume of the space below and towering trees beyond," says Maniscalco.

The double-height, fully glazed volume at the home's rear "brings significant light into the home, while simultaneously creating a moment to experience the verticality of the surrounding trees which loom above the home," explains Maniscalco.

Earthy, organic materials were favored for the home's composition. The exterior palette features Pietra Serena limestone, color-integral stucco, metal panels, and stained cedar.

Tank Hill Residence floor plan — third floor