Inspiration for a large transitional backyard stone and l-shaped hot tub remodel in San Francisco

A clean color palette allows artwork to pop in the living room. White linen sofas are married with chrome, marble, and walnut coffee and side tables. A plush shag rug anchors the sitting area, and fine art blends with neon art on the wallpapered hallway. Stephen Allen Photography

This 3 BR, 3 1/2 bath home allows the owners to live on one level most of the time. The Master Suite is on the main level along with the Living Room, Kitchen, Dining, pantries, Sun Room and service areas. The upper level houses two ample bedrooms while the lower level supports a rec center, media room, wine cellar, shop and full wet bar. Conceived as a Great Room house, the main level is designed as one seamless space that flows onto an ample deck overlooking the rear yard. We also incorporated a variety of green building techniques - photo-voltaic shingles on the roof of the garage to generate a portion of the home's energy, a super insulated building envelope, rain water harvesting, high performance windows and doors, a high efficiency heat pump, low flow bath & kitchen fixtures, Energy Star appliances and LED lighting - that greatly reduced this structure's carbon footprint. All of the strategies amounted to a 30% reduction in the energy consumption in this home relative to comparable structures.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

LOS ANGELES, CA / SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL The commission for this 4,300-square-foot residence came with significant challenges for the architects – a house had once existed on the lot but had burned down and the attempt to replace the house had stalled, leading to an abatement order and a lapse of permits. Our first challenge was to revive the lapsed construction permit by proposing to “modify” the existing structure. The practical effect this had was to fix the footprint of the new home to the existing structure’s plan outline. Having thereby inherited the large, dense block of the original house, the new strategy became one of substituting selective areas of indoor space for outdoor courtyard. This strategy of trading indoor space for outdoor courtyard allowed an erosion of the formerly monolithic structure into a series of distinct volumetric elements, and further suggested that the architectural pieces could cohere as a “village.” The main level is further eroded by large, glazed planes, merging indoor with outdoor, and virtually stretching the landscape across interior space. Moving the detached garage from the rear yard to beneath the new living space allowed for a 75-meter lap pool and a shaded olive garden. The gardens include built-in seating, extensive use of ornamental grasses and Zen-like interior courtyards. A material palette of fossilized stone, bonderized-galvanized metal, and natural Douglas fir allows for the warmth desired by the wife, while providing the modernity required by the husband. Programmatically, her music room borrows from the calm and protected olive court in the rear, while his office becomes a pavilion set in the landscape, which both addresses the street and acts as a sheltering monument for the terraced entry garden.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

This 3 BR, 3 1/2 bath home allows the owners to live on one level most of the time. The Master Suite is on the main level along with the Living Room, Kitchen, Dining, pantries, Sun Room and service areas. The upper level houses two ample bedrooms while the lower level supports a rec center, media room, wine cellar, shop and full wet bar. Conceived as a Great Room house, the main level is designed as one seamless space that flows onto an ample deck overlooking the rear yard. We also incorporated a variety of green building techniques - photo-voltaic shingles on the roof of the garage to generate a portion of the home's energy, a super insulated building envelope, rain water harvesting, high performance windows and doors, a high efficiency heat pump, low flow bath & kitchen fixtures, Energy Star appliances and LED lighting - that greatly reduced this structure's carbon footprint. All of the strategies amounted to a 30% reduction in the energy consumption in this home relative to comparable structures.

LOS ANGELES, CA / SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL The commission for this 4,300-square-foot residence came with significant challenges for the architects – a house had once existed on the lot but had burned down and the attempt to replace the house had stalled, leading to an abatement order and a lapse of permits. Our first challenge was to revive the lapsed construction permit by proposing to “modify” the existing structure. The practical effect this had was to fix the footprint of the new home to the existing structure’s plan outline. Having thereby inherited the large, dense block of the original house, the new strategy became one of substituting selective areas of indoor space for outdoor courtyard. This strategy of trading indoor space for outdoor courtyard allowed an erosion of the formerly monolithic structure into a series of distinct volumetric elements, and further suggested that the architectural pieces could cohere as a “village.” The main level is further eroded by large, glazed planes, merging indoor with outdoor, and virtually stretching the landscape across interior space. Moving the detached garage from the rear yard to beneath the new living space allowed for a 75-meter lap pool and a shaded olive garden. The gardens include built-in seating, extensive use of ornamental grasses and Zen-like interior courtyards. A material palette of fossilized stone, bonderized-galvanized metal, and natural Douglas fir allows for the warmth desired by the wife, while providing the modernity required by the husband. Programmatically, her music room borrows from the calm and protected olive court in the rear, while his office becomes a pavilion set in the landscape, which both addresses the street and acts as a sheltering monument for the terraced entry garden.

LOS ANGELES, CA / SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL The commission for this 4,300-square-foot residence came with significant challenges for the architects – a house had once existed on the lot but had burned down and the attempt to replace the house had stalled, leading to an abatement order and a lapse of permits. Our first challenge was to revive the lapsed construction permit by proposing to “modify” the existing structure. The practical effect this had was to fix the footprint of the new home to the existing structure’s plan outline. Having thereby inherited the large, dense block of the original house, the new strategy became one of substituting selective areas of indoor space for outdoor courtyard. This strategy of trading indoor space for outdoor courtyard allowed an erosion of the formerly monolithic structure into a series of distinct volumetric elements, and further suggested that the architectural pieces could cohere as a “village.” The main level is further eroded by large, glazed planes, merging indoor with outdoor, and virtually stretching the landscape across interior space. Moving the detached garage from the rear yard to beneath the new living space allowed for a 75-meter lap pool and a shaded olive garden. The gardens include built-in seating, extensive use of ornamental grasses and Zen-like interior courtyards. A material palette of fossilized stone, bonderized-galvanized metal, and natural Douglas fir allows for the warmth desired by the wife, while providing the modernity required by the husband. Programmatically, her music room borrows from the calm and protected olive court in the rear, while his office becomes a pavilion set in the landscape, which both addresses the street and acts as a sheltering monument for the terraced entry garden.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

LOS ANGELES, CA / SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL The commission for this 4,300-square-foot residence came with significant challenges for the architects – a house had once existed on the lot but had burned down and the attempt to replace the house had stalled, leading to an abatement order and a lapse of permits. Our first challenge was to revive the lapsed construction permit by proposing to “modify” the existing structure. The practical effect this had was to fix the footprint of the new home to the existing structure’s plan outline. Having thereby inherited the large, dense block of the original house, the new strategy became one of substituting selective areas of indoor space for outdoor courtyard. This strategy of trading indoor space for outdoor courtyard allowed an erosion of the formerly monolithic structure into a series of distinct volumetric elements, and further suggested that the architectural pieces could cohere as a “village.” The main level is further eroded by large, glazed planes, merging indoor with outdoor, and virtually stretching the landscape across interior space. Moving the detached garage from the rear yard to beneath the new living space allowed for a 75-meter lap pool and a shaded olive garden. The gardens include built-in seating, extensive use of ornamental grasses and Zen-like interior courtyards. A material palette of fossilized stone, bonderized-galvanized metal, and natural Douglas fir allows for the warmth desired by the wife, while providing the modernity required by the husband. Programmatically, her music room borrows from the calm and protected olive court in the rear, while his office becomes a pavilion set in the landscape, which both addresses the street and acts as a sheltering monument for the terraced entry garden.

This remodel negotiates the owner’s desire for a modern home with the municipality’s desire to maintain the home’s ‘historic’ character.  To satisfy these potentially conflicting interests, our strategy restores the house’s shell while completely gutting the interior to achieve greater connections to the landscape beyond and between previously disconnected levels on the interior. At the exterior, new doors and windows with black frames hint at the elegant and restrained aesthetic that guides the design throughout. Similarly, a new cantilevered deck at the rear and new French doors at the front create connections to outside that echo the new spatial openness of the reorganized interior. The original home, although two stories, functioned like a single story home. To remedy this, the primary formal move was to remove the center of the home and insert a new, open stair that visually and physically connects the two levels. To take advantage of this, the lower level was enlarged and completely refinished to provide two new bedrooms, a music room, a playroom, and a bathroom. Similarly, the upper level was completed updated with a new master suite, an updated bathroom, new finishes in the main living spaces, and a new Henrybuilt Kitchen.

LOS ANGELES, CA / SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL The commission for this 4,300-square-foot residence came with significant challenges for the architects – a house had once existed on the lot but had burned down and the attempt to replace the house had stalled, leading to an abatement order and a lapse of permits. Our first challenge was to revive the lapsed construction permit by proposing to “modify” the existing structure. The practical effect this had was to fix the footprint of the new home to the existing structure’s plan outline. Having thereby inherited the large, dense block of the original house, the new strategy became one of substituting selective areas of indoor space for outdoor courtyard. This strategy of trading indoor space for outdoor courtyard allowed an erosion of the formerly monolithic structure into a series of distinct volumetric elements, and further suggested that the architectural pieces could cohere as a “village.” The main level is further eroded by large, glazed planes, merging indoor with outdoor, and virtually stretching the landscape across interior space. Moving the detached garage from the rear yard to beneath the new living space allowed for a 75-meter lap pool and a shaded olive garden. The gardens include built-in seating, extensive use of ornamental grasses and Zen-like interior courtyards. A material palette of fossilized stone, bonderized-galvanized metal, and natural Douglas fir allows for the warmth desired by the wife, while providing the modernity required by the husband. Programmatically, her music room borrows from the calm and protected olive court in the rear, while his office becomes a pavilion set in the landscape, which both addresses the street and acts as a sheltering monument for the terraced entry garden.

LOS ANGELES, CA / SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL The commission for this 4,300-square-foot residence came with significant challenges for the architects – a house had once existed on the lot but had burned down and the attempt to replace the house had stalled, leading to an abatement order and a lapse of permits. Our first challenge was to revive the lapsed construction permit by proposing to “modify” the existing structure. The practical effect this had was to fix the footprint of the new home to the existing structure’s plan outline. Having thereby inherited the large, dense block of the original house, the new strategy became one of substituting selective areas of indoor space for outdoor courtyard. This strategy of trading indoor space for outdoor courtyard allowed an erosion of the formerly monolithic structure into a series of distinct volumetric elements, and further suggested that the architectural pieces could cohere as a “village.” The main level is further eroded by large, glazed planes, merging indoor with outdoor, and virtually stretching the landscape across interior space. Moving the detached garage from the rear yard to beneath the new living space allowed for a 75-meter lap pool and a shaded olive garden. The gardens include built-in seating, extensive use of ornamental grasses and Zen-like interior courtyards. A material palette of fossilized stone, bonderized-galvanized metal, and natural Douglas fir allows for the warmth desired by the wife, while providing the modernity required by the husband. Programmatically, her music room borrows from the calm and protected olive court in the rear, while his office becomes a pavilion set in the landscape, which both addresses the street and acts as a sheltering monument for the terraced entry garden.