Perched on the eastern slopes of Telegraph hill with glimpses to Coit Tower and a sweeping panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay, this 1,300 square foot unit was typical of its era. The warren of small rooms felt enclosed and cramped, with halls and walls dividing the spaces into traditional rooms that left the kitchen with no view. Low ceilings in the hall and kitchen added to the tight feeling. The entry was drab and floors throughout had been stained dark brown, absorbing the natural light and reflecting a dullness into the spaces. Purchased to become the City home for a couple who keep their country home an hour south of San Francisco, they wanted openness, lots of light and a more sophisticated, contemporary look with overtones of Art Deco.

Walls and doorways between spaces in the living dining and kitchen areas were demolished, pulled back and punctured to let light and spaces flow into one another. Previously lowered ceilings were raised, the hall was reshaped to enlarge her bath and change the feeling of the hall into a vestibule/gallery. The entry was defined with a round coffer, glowing with red fluting and lit with fiber optic lighting glinting on a silver leafed ceiling. A shelf and angled seat at the entry further define it as a space to pause and enjoy as shoes are removed and tucked under the cantilevered bench. A pair of silver leafed columns support a shaped ceiling that is angled to redirect circulation around and through the spaces, eliminating the hall and allowing a comfortable and open flow, both visually and physically, into and through the spaces.

By eliminating walls and redefining spaces with color, cabinetry and lighting, the kitchen became a dynamic center with breathtaking views. Every space is filled with natural light. The convoluted hallway became a bold and focused gallery, leading quickly to spacious, open rooms. The corner of the living room is a perfect place to read or contemplate the amazing view, curled up on the shaped built-in seat that terminates the layered sculpting of the fireplace wall. A glass block wall between the kitchen and her bath adds dimension to each room and is a dramatic glowing light fixture for each. A deep wall frames it from the kitchen side, adding space for art objects and the mirror in the bath floats in front of it, back lit and magical.

The clients had purchased a luscious silk fabric light fixture in Venice to hang over the dining table and the Architects drew all of the colors for the home from this. Deep reds against silver leaf, varying shades of taupe and gray, soft yellows shading to gold. Most of the walls are hand glazed in multiple layers giving a depth and richness appropriate to the elegant collection of furniture - the Fortuni silk light, Gioponti dining table, Robbs John - Gibbings dining chairs, various original pieces, antique Italian etchings and watercolors and the new pieces designed by the architects. Stainless steel counters gleam against the sleek birdseye maple cabinetry, topped by a curving, canted marble bar. Glass mosaic tiles wrap her bath and the shaped pedestal in luminous aqua, enhancing the glow of polished glass and tumbled green marble floor. A curtain of shimmering gold fabric is edged in golden chains to match the fittings and the gold leafed squares of her medicine cabinets. His bath of tumbled marble and waving mosaic border compliments the stainless steel sink and frameless glass shower.