Stairs

"We composed the house to have its highest, brightest space in the middle," says Paul Raff. Warm wood stairs lead to the second floor, which houses guest bedrooms, bath, and a kitchenette for the family's frequent visitors.

The spatial drama on the interior comes from the staircase and tatami room upstairs. The daffodil pendant overlooking it all is from Ikea. The butterfly stool is by Sori Yanagi and was a birthday present from Konishi to Gaffney.

In a former shipping and receiving room, Kidd's design-builder Eric Wolf inserted a custom-crafted freestanding stair.

"When it's time to put our noses to the grind stone and produce work, we head upstairs," Benson says. "Myself and one or two fellow designers will chip away at things in the loft into the evenings."

The original leather sofa introduces an additional texture to the living room, and loud wallpaper brings a splash of visual interest. JAC also incorporated a new loft railing and ladder to climb to the next level.

A rare interior hallway space is made and furnished almost entirely with reclaimed materials. Materials for doors, windows, and the slatted wooden floor were collected from demolished Saigon homes and customized to fit the residence.

The architects divided the home into separate floors for sleeping, living, and working. Since the house is situated on a hill that slopes 20 feet from top to bottom, there are plenty of stairs. Those pictured above were crafted using wood salvaged from a 100-year-old bungalow that previously stood on the site.

White-oak stairs connect the first-floor living spaces with the upstairs sleeping areas.

The stairs feature a geometric pattern of holes generated by a software script that allows rain to slip through to the lake below.

Floating stairs to the boardroom are framed by over forty porcelain '21' pendants by Bocci.