Vault & Stack House

Endemic Architecture transformed a previously drab, dark, expressionless 1970’s house into a light filled, distinctive home in San Jose, CA. Consisting of an interior renovation and 700 square foot front addition, the house was pulled towards the street, fostering a more welcoming effect. A new ‘carved entry’ is formed by two intersecting barrel vaults to create a small covered front porch that introduces soft geometry into the otherwise angular composition. A faux chimney stack frames the west side of the porch with a wink and nod to the front-façade chimney’s found throughout the neighborhood. Further to the west, the office volume cantilevers over the foundation wall, creating a gap between the ground to reduce the visual weight of the house and incorporate nighttime lighting. This triptych of a vaulted porch, chimney stack, and cantilever give the house its primary expressions.

The front addition is composed of staggered rooms in plan to create receding depth on the west side, yet the entire addition is contained under a single new low-slope gable roof that merges the two existing gabled roofs over the garage and main house into a unified whole. On one hand, this added gable (and carved porch) allows the house to be understood as a single mass. On the other hand, the expression of roof eaves, as well as the faux chimney piercing the eave, allows the house to be understood as the composition of discrete elements.

The drought-tolerant landscape is a high contrast design composed with ¾” Dolomite rock, black mulch, and charcoal-topped pavers intermixed with new low-profile plants. The high contrast palette of black, white, and green is an intentional inversion from the previously blended palette of beige and green. The sealed charcoal-topped pavers provide a non-slip surface that rapidly transforms from a reflective surface when wet to matte black when dry.

During our first meeting, one of the owner’s mentioned she is a white-shirt and blue-jeans type of person, and would love if the interiors could be just that. Thus, a palette of matte and glossy whites with light gray ceramic floor tile creates a gallery-like interior while a 10’ long denim blue island adds a literal touch of that blue-jean effect. The new entry hall serves as a primary spatial element that it from above by two large sky lights that spatially and atmospherically link the foyer, kitchen, living room, office, and new bedrooms through a single volume. At night, each light can be individually controlled and set to thousands of different colors for game night, movie night, party night, or holiday celebrations.

Project Team:
Architect: Endemic Architecture
Structural Engineer: Hewitt Consulting Group
General Contractor: A2Z Builders
Landscape: Endemic Architecture & Jocelyn Zepeda
Photography: Justin Lopez Photography