The Kelley Residence

Designed by Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass, this Silicon Valley manse was created for David Kelley, founder and chairman of global design consultancy IDEO and the Stanford d.school. The 6,000-square-foot home consists of six connection pavilions, each maintaining their own unique shape, color, and material. Holding together four of the six is a glass atrium—Sottsass didn’t believe in hallways, and thus formed a flexible collection of linked spaces. As the city capped the total square footage, Sottsass brought outdoor terraces into the home, fusing the transition with the atrium. In the office, an 18-foot barrel-vaulted ceiling sits overhead as an architectural metaphor for inspiration.