SubscribeSign In
All Photos/exterior/roofline : flat/roofline : gable/siding material : glass

Exterior Flat Roofline Gable Roofline Glass Siding Material Design Photos and Ideas

DGN Studio renovated and extended a semidetached Victorian terrace near London Fields for clients Rebecca and Roman. The rear extension is defined by a material palette of exposed concrete and white-oiled oak, which was chosen for its durability, as well as its warm texture and grain. “We are very aware of the dialogue around the sustainability of concrete as a building material, so we were keen to make sure its use was related to a specific set of practical tasks for which it would stand the test of time,” says DGN studio cofounder Geraldine Ng.
The exterior of the home features warm blackbutt timber cladding and crisp black metalwork. Each level of the home opens out to a deck or balcony, and the curved white balustrade outside the main bedroom is a contemporary take on the original architecture.
The box-shaped extension plays off the familiar farmhouse typology, creating a series of intriguing contrasts.
The brickwork of the original gabled farmhouse was painted white, referencing the local vernacular, and a new corrugated metal roof was added.
Building the addition upward instead of outward allowed for more space and better views without excavating across the hilltop.
At the rear, a double-height, glass-walled extension links the main living spaces to the exterior.
The firm took inspiration from early barns in the area. “They’re very lightly built here because we don’t have snow,” says Haesloop. “So then the eaves are very tight. There are no overhangs. So, we were interested in using the Equitone to fold down to the land.”
This view shows the two forms backed by the Cypress trees. The main social areas are to the right, and the bedroom cube is to the left.
Windows wrap the length of the wall in the main section of the house and overlook the green space. “It’s a very unusual setting for the Sea Ranch—and Kieron, who’s from England, absolutely loves it because you get these beautiful big green meadows,” says architect Eric Haesloop.
“We wanted to create a house that did justice to the incredible landscape of the Sea Ranch, and also to its immediate surroundings—a combination of bright open space looking toward the ocean, but also an area that was sheltered and shaded by a gorgeous stand of Cypress trees,” say the couple. “We also wanted to preserve and honor the tradition of Sea Ranch architecture—Kieron is a huge history buff, and he had started reading about the origins of the Sea Ranch build paradigm, as well as the utopian ideals upon which it was founded in the 1960s.”
The horizontal concrete assembly appears to hover gently above the landscape, touching only on supporting columns. Floor-to-ceiling glass provides transparency from outside to inside.
Floor-to-ceiling glass walls maintain important view corridors for the occupants.
The home's design follows the natural contours of the hillside location. The exterior was portrayed as the Pfefferman family home in the Amazon series “Transparent.”
The solution to the problem of the telephone pole was to place the entry at the side. “Putting the home entry on the side allows one to create full rooms at each end of the house without running a hallway through them,” says Wu.
The glazed facade is broken up by classic midcentury lines.
The rear view of the home.
The home features a two-car garage with clerestory windows that keep the interior bright.
A long bluestone roof deck overlooks the pool and the expansive lawn.
In order to maximize space, the architects utilized a split-level design that includes the living areas on the main level, two upstairs bedrooms, and a walk-out basement beneath the dining room. The wood siding was salvaged and restored from the previous building on-site, in order to bring warmth to the gray, seamed metal and reference the neighborhood's past.
Exposed steel, concrete soffits, and cement-washed bricks were been chosen as key components of the home due to the materials having low-maintenance, yet being extremely durable.
There are two nearby dams on the farmland that provide drinking water for the off-grid home.
The meticulously landscaped front yard is low maintenance and features drought tolerant plants and a sprinkler system.
View from outdoor porch by Low Design Office
The smaller of the two existing buildings, this renovated structure houses two bedrooms. A glass overhang was installed above the passageway linking the historic structure with the concrete addition.
“To be able to respect the ‘massiveness’ of the roof, making bigger windows would be wrong, because we would lose the character of the farm,” Wynants explains. “Therefore, I was looking for other ways to collect light. At this spot you had the big barn doors at both sides: This is the economical axis of the farm. This I kept, as my own design office is right under this volume. It keeps the sun out, so I have a splendid view when I’m working—I never need sun shades.”