This backyard paradise began with a muddy site, with all the grading sloping directly to the proposed poolside patio. The design for this outdoor living area would need to incorporate many challenges: * The grading issues would be corrected with retaining walls, which would create a warm yet expansive area and provide additional seating. * The pillars would require careful notching to insert the hardware for the pool gate. * The patio would need to incorporate stormwater storage underneath. * The edge of the poolside patio would require stabilization to prevent future settlement adjacent to the concrete pool deck.

The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

Tamarack / Larix laricina

The renovation project adapts the three-story building to 23 modern multi-family residential units while maintaining the important historic elements of the interior, exterior, and overall site, in order to satisfy requirements for state and federal historic tax credits. Photo by Jeff Johnston

Originally a small two story, shingled bungalow set amidst an urban forest, this project involved major remodeling and enlargement of the interior spaces, and addition of two wings in order to clarify the interior layout and to add needed space, especially in the main living spaces. The small site and desire to not over-build the footprint, required a heroic effort to install a full basement under the existing house. Photos by David Simone.

Photography by Patrick Ray With a footprint of just 450 square feet, this micro residence embodies minimalism and elegance through efficiency. Particular attention was paid to creating spaces that support multiple functions as well as innovative storage solutions. A mezzanine-level sleeping space looks down over the multi-use kitchen/living/dining space as well out to multiple view corridors on the site. To create a expansive feel, the lower living space utilizes a bifold door to maximize indoor-outdoor connectivity, opening to the patio, endless lap pool, and Boulder open space beyond. The home sits on a ¾ acre lot within the city limits and has over 100 trees, shrubs and grasses, providing privacy and meditation space. This compact home contains a fully-equipped kitchen, ¾ bath, office, sleeping loft and a subgrade storage area as well as detached carport.

Matt McCourtney, McCourtney Photographics The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

Matt McCourtney, McCourtney Photographics The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

Matt McCourtney, McCourtney Photographics The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

Photographer: Michael Del Rossi
1960s home design photo in Boston

Matt McCourtney, McCourtney Photographics The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

Matt McCourtney, McCourtney Photographics The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

Photos by Patrick & Topaze McCaffery of Taproot Garden Design
Photo of a large mediterranean full sun backyard stone landscaping in San Francisco for spring.

Matt McCourtney, McCourtney Photographics The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.

This new 1,700 sf two-story single family residence for a young couple required a minimum of three bedrooms, two bathrooms, packaged to fit unobtrusively in an older low-key residential neighborhood. The house is located on a small non-conforming lot. In order to get the maximum out of this small footprint, we virtually eliminated areas such as hallways to capture as much living space. We made the house feel larger by giving the ground floor higher ceilings, provided ample natural lighting, captured elongated sight lines out of view windows, and used outdoor areas as extended living spaces. To help the building be a “good neighbor,” we set back the house on the lot to minimize visual volume, creating a friendly, social semi-public front porch. We designed with multiple step-back levels to create an intimacy in scale. The garage is on one level, the main house is on another higher level. The upper floor is set back even further to reduce visual impact. By designing a single car garage with exterior tandem parking, we minimized the amount of yard space taken up with parking. The landscaping and permeable cobblestone walkway up to the house serves double duty as part of the city required parking space. The final building solution incorporated a variety of significant cost saving features, including a floor plan that made the most of the natural topography of the site and allowed access to utilities’ crawl spaces. We avoided expensive excavation by using slab on grade at the ground floor. Retaining walls also doubled as building walls.

Atherton has many large substantial homes - our clients purchased an existing home on a one acre flag-shaped lot and asked us to design a new dream home for them. The result is a new 7,000 square foot four-building complex consisting of the main house, six-car garage with two car lifts, pool house with a full one bedroom residence inside, and a separate home office /work out gym studio building. A fifty-foot swimming pool was also created with fully landscaped yards. Given the rectangular shape of the lot, it was decided to angle the house to incoming visitors slightly so as to more dramatically present itself. The house became a classic u-shaped home but Feng Shui design principals were employed directing the placement of the pool house to better contain the energy flow on the site. The main house entry door is then aligned with a special Japanese red maple at the end of a long visual axis at the rear of the site. These angles and alignments set up everything else about the house design and layout, and views from various rooms allow you to see into virtually every space tracking movements of others in the home. The residence is simply divided into two wings of public use, kitchen and family room, and the other wing of bedrooms, connected by the living and dining great room. Function drove the exterior form of windows and solid walls with a line of clerestory windows which bring light into the middle of the large home. Extensive sun shadow studies with 3D tree modeling led to the unorthodox placement of the pool to the north of the home, but tree shadow tracking showed this to be the sunniest area during the entire year. Sustainable measures included a full 7.1kW solar photovoltaic array technically making the house off the grid, and arranged so that no panels are visible from the property. A large 16,000 gallon rainwater catchment system consisting of tanks buried below grade was installed. The home is California GreenPoint rated and also features sealed roof soffits and a sealed crawlspace without the usual venting. A whole house computer automation system with server room was installed as well. Heating and cooling utilize hot water radiant heated concrete and wood floors supplemented by heat pump generated heating and cooling. A compound of buildings created to form balanced relationships between each other, this home is about circulation, light and a balance of form and function. Photo by Philip Liang Photography.

The Railway Circle Residence responds to the Client's desire to have an open and informal contemporary house. The house's high flat ceilings and loft-like spaces provide a perfect setting for views of the wooded site and for the display of the Clients extensive art and ceramic collections. The restrained massing and exterior materials reflect the Client's desire for simplicity and respond to requirements of the development in which the house is situated.

The scope of work for this new custom home included Preliminary Design, Design Review submittal and approval, Architectural Design, Site Planning and Building Permit submittal and approval. Thayer Architecture Inc. worked closely with the Owner to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional design that fit the requirements of the Town, the Owner and the Site. Lighting and interior design were by others.