New 2 story, 5BR/3BA 2000 s.f. house in Contemporary Style for a Japanese client and his family. Our challenge was to create a design that reflected both the Owner's culture and a current design sensibility, as well as respecting the forms of the traditional context.

An open floor plan on the left side of the house connects the front and rear yards, while a ground floor master suite fills in the area behind the two car garage. A central stair leads to a skylit upper hallway off of which four additional bedrooms can be accessed.

The project also includes a new 400 s.f. detached guesthouse, the first ever allowed in the City of Burlingame in an R-1 zoning district.

The project was approved by the Burlingame Planning Commission, but was appealed by a City Council member who is a local residential designer, and a staunch opponent of contemporary design. We found out later this this same councilmember had been previously retained by our client for this same project, but was terminated due to failure to perform in a timely fashion.

After we briefly explored a few Spanish style designs, our client subsequently decided to cancel the project.