Shielded on three sides by the thick foliage of massive evergreen trees and a carpet of ferns, the jungle-like feel of the landscape provides a sense of solitude and privacy that are hard to come by in the area. The unconventional angular shape of the building works well on the sloping site in which the perimeter comes to a sharp point and required a unique re-imagining of spaces. This distinctive shape is most clearly displayed in the renovations of the custom kitchen and expanded third-floor master suite, each uses the diagonal wall as a means of adding interest and direction in the space.

A 6,000 square foot 2-story new home complex in Milpitas was designed to facilitate the owners’ large business parties and gatherings, to have rooms for the kids to come back to upstairs, and a ground floor master suite with a huge walk-in closet. Several separate structures make up the dwelling: The main house, 3-car garage with carport for overflow parking, and a separate entertainment and recreation building separated by a courtyard from the main house. The business activities include gatherings in the hundreds of people, so parking was maximized and guests can flow in through a separate gate to party in the courtyard and recreation building. Inside this structure is a wet bar, billiard room, workout gym and home theater. The main house ground floor has formal and informal living rooms, open kitchen and master suite with views and expansive windows in every direction. The house is sited on the crestline of a hill with views of the San Francisco Bay and private golf course below. The indoor-outdoor aspect of the house is further accentuated with outside living and dining areas. High ceilings and expansive glass walls dissolve the sense of enclosure taking advantage of the site’s openness and privacy. The owner’s suite is downstairs in anticipation of aging-in-place, and upstairs there are three bedrooms and four bathrooms plus a sitting area lounge and casual TV loft area. The house sits on one acre at the top of a low hill range overlooking Milpitas. The city was very cognizant of the importance of keeping a low profile at this crestline and required extensive story poles and photo evidence of the proper height and siting so as not to be seen from certain selected vantage points. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JCD Builders Inc. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Morf Chang Landscape Architecture / ODS Architecture PHOTOGRAPHS: Paul Dyer Photography

American hazelnut / Corylus americana

This house was resting vacant for 7 years in a neighborhood undergoing a renewal. It was purchased by a builder intent on showing his craft by renovating this Shingle Style Dutch Colonial. The project involved a dramatically sloping site and constraints involving a traditional neighborhood with residents on the Historical Design Review Board. During Construction, a couple purchased the home adding requirements for multigenerational living. It was necessary to underpin and lower the basement to accommodate for elderly parents and a live-in care provider. All of these constraints have been architecturally sculpted into a contextually sensitive and elegant design. An ARDA for Renovation Design goes to Gaver Nichols Architect Designs: Gaver Nichols Architect with Deborah Nichols From: Alexandria, Virginia

BeachHaus is built on a previously developed site on Siesta Key. It sits directly on the bay but has Gulf views from the upper floor and roof deck. The client loved the old Florida cracker beach houses that are harder and harder to find these days. They loved the exposed roof joists, ship lap ceilings, light colored surfaces and inviting and durable materials. Given the risk of hurricanes, building those homes in these areas is not only disingenuous it is impossible. Instead, we focused on building the new era of beach houses; fully elevated to comfy with FEMA requirements, exposed concrete beams, long eaves to shade windows, coralina stone cladding, ship lap ceilings, and white oak and terrazzo flooring. The home is Net Zero Energy with a HERS index of -25 making it one of the most energy efficient homes in the US. It is also certified NGBS Emerald. Photos by Ryan Gamma Photography

A 6,000 square foot 2-story new home complex in Milpitas was designed to facilitate the owners’ large business parties and gatherings, to have rooms for the kids to come back to upstairs, and a ground floor master suite with a huge walk-in closet. Several separate structures make up the dwelling: The main house, 3-car garage with carport for overflow parking, and a separate entertainment and recreation building separated by a courtyard from the main house. The business activities include gatherings in the hundreds of people, so parking was maximized and guests can flow in through a separate gate to party in the courtyard and recreation building. Inside this structure is a wet bar, billiard room, workout gym and home theater. The main house ground floor has formal and informal living rooms, open kitchen and master suite with views and expansive windows in every direction. The house is sited on the crestline of a hill with views of the San Francisco Bay and private golf course below. The indoor-outdoor aspect of the house is further accentuated with outside living and dining areas. High ceilings and expansive glass walls dissolve the sense of enclosure taking advantage of the site’s openness and privacy. The owner’s suite is downstairs in anticipation of aging-in-place, and upstairs there are three bedrooms and four bathrooms plus a sitting area lounge and casual TV loft area. The house sits on one acre at the top of a low hill range overlooking Milpitas. The city was very cognizant of the importance of keeping a low profile at this crestline and required extensive story poles and photo evidence of the proper height and siting so as not to be seen from certain selected vantage points. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JCD Builders Inc. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Morf Chang Landscape Architecture / ODS Architecture PHOTOGRAPHS: Paul Dyer Photography

This project has three components, which is all built differently. The main house is a waterfront property at the bottom of a steep cliff. All machine and materials are delivered by barge. Concrete is pumped from the top of the cliff down to the bottom with a 400ft line into a boom pump which was delivered by barge. Due to the challenging access to the site, most of the structural backfill is actually Styrofoam (EPS) backfill. The garage is built from the top of the cliff, with a 27ft tall foundation wall. We needed to excavate to solid bedrock in order to adequately anchor the foundation into the hillside. This tall foundation wall are 10″ thick with a double grid of rebar to retain approximately 350 cu yards of fill. Styrofoam backfill was also used. A funicular (tramway) is also being built on this project, which required it’s own building permit. Image by Ema Peter Photography

RECO is proud of our long-term relationships with area contractors, and we’ve partnered with Alameda’s Buestad Construction on both residential and commercial projects. We recently completed an extensive remodel of the largest estate in Alameda. There were many challenges on this project which lasted for the better part of a year. We rewired the entire estate to bring it up to current standards, while retaining the traditional aesthetic of this lovely old home. This complex project necessitated the installation of a new pad mount transformer onto the project site, moving all existing and future feeds underground–an unusual undertaking for a residence, requiring extensive coordination with the local utility and the City. Project pictures of the estate’s enormous kitchen provide insights into the massive scale of this project.

This house was resting vacant for 7 years in a neighborhood undergoing a renewal. It was purchased by a builder intent on showing his craft by renovating this Shingle Style Dutch Colonial. The project involved a dramatically sloping site and constraints involving a traditional neighborhood with residents on the Historical Design Review Board. During Construction, a couple purchased the home adding requirements for multigenerational living. It was necessary to underpin and lower the basement to accommodate for elderly parents and a live-in care provider. All of these constraints have been architecturally sculpted into a contextually sensitive and elegant design. An ARDA for Renovation Design goes to Gaver Nichols Architect Designs: Gaver Nichols Architect with Deborah Nichols From: Alexandria, Virginia

This stately Tudor required a new kitchen. As a large open space with long site lines from adjacent rooms, the new kitchen needed drama, presence – to make a statement. Toward that, we chose bold forms, rich colors for the perimeter and a walnut island. Golden tones are included from the straps on the custom hood, the hardware and seating at the island. And – a decorative cremone bolt!

College and University Sports Flooring. Interlocking Plastic Tile
Mid-sized elegant indoor basketball/tennis/multi-game court photo in Boston with beige walls

We were approached by a San Francisco firefighter to design a place for him and his girlfriend to live while also creating additional units he could sell to finance the project. He grew up in the house that was built on this site in approximately 1886. It had been remodeled repeatedly since it was first built so that there was only one window remaining that showed any sign of its Victorian heritage. The house had become so dilapidated over the years that it was a legitimate candidate for demolition. Furthermore, the house straddled two legal parcels, so there was an opportunity to build several new units in its place. At our client’s suggestion, we developed the left building as a duplex of which they could occupy the larger, upper unit and the right building as a large single-family residence. In addition to design, we handled permitting, including gathering support by reaching out to the surrounding neighbors and shepherding the project through the Planning Commission Discretionary Review process. The Planning Department insisted that we develop the two buildings so they had different characters and could not be mistaken for an apartment complex. The duplex design was inspired by Albert Frey’s Palm Springs modernism but clad in fibre cement panels and the house design was to be clad in wood. Because the site was steeply upsloping, the design required tall, thick retaining walls that we incorporated into the design creating sunken patios in the rear yards. All floors feature generous 10 foot ceilings and large windows with the upper, bedroom floors featuring 11 and 12 foot ceilings. Open plans are complemented by sleek, modern finishes throughout.

A 6,000 square foot 2-story new home complex in Milpitas was designed to facilitate the owners’ large business parties and gatherings, to have rooms for the kids to come back to upstairs, and a ground floor master suite with a huge walk-in closet. Several separate structures make up the dwelling: The main house, 3-car garage with carport for overflow parking, and a separate entertainment and recreation building separated by a courtyard from the main house. The business activities include gatherings in the hundreds of people, so parking was maximized and guests can flow in through a separate gate to party in the courtyard and recreation building. Inside this structure is a wet bar, billiard room, workout gym and home theater. The main house ground floor has formal and informal living rooms, open kitchen and master suite with views and expansive windows in every direction. The house is sited on the crestline of a hill with views of the San Francisco Bay and private golf course below. The indoor-outdoor aspect of the house is further accentuated with outside living and dining areas. High ceilings and expansive glass walls dissolve the sense of enclosure taking advantage of the site’s openness and privacy. The owner’s suite is downstairs in anticipation of aging-in-place, and upstairs there are three bedrooms and four bathrooms plus a sitting area lounge and casual TV loft area. The house sits on one acre at the top of a low hill range overlooking Milpitas. The city was very cognizant of the importance of keeping a low profile at this crestline and required extensive story poles and photo evidence of the proper height and siting so as not to be seen from certain selected vantage points. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JCD Builders Inc. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Morf Chang Landscape Architecture / ODS Architecture PHOTOGRAPHS: Paul Dyer Photography

A 6,000 square foot 2-story new home complex in Milpitas was designed to facilitate the owners’ large business parties and gatherings, to have rooms for the kids to come back to upstairs, and a ground floor master suite with a huge walk-in closet. Several separate structures make up the dwelling: The main house, 3-car garage with carport for overflow parking, and a separate entertainment and recreation building separated by a courtyard from the main house. The business activities include gatherings in the hundreds of people, so parking was maximized and guests can flow in through a separate gate to party in the courtyard and recreation building. Inside this structure is a wet bar, billiard room, workout gym and home theater. The main house ground floor has formal and informal living rooms, open kitchen and master suite with views and expansive windows in every direction. The house is sited on the crestline of a hill with views of the San Francisco Bay and private golf course below. The indoor-outdoor aspect of the house is further accentuated with outside living and dining areas. High ceilings and expansive glass walls dissolve the sense of enclosure taking advantage of the site’s openness and privacy. The owner’s suite is downstairs in anticipation of aging-in-place, and upstairs there are three bedrooms and four bathrooms plus a sitting area lounge and casual TV loft area. The house sits on one acre at the top of a low hill range overlooking Milpitas. The city was very cognizant of the importance of keeping a low profile at this crestline and required extensive story poles and photo evidence of the proper height and siting so as not to be seen from certain selected vantage points. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JCD Builders Inc. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Morf Chang Landscape Architecture / ODS Architecture PHOTOGRAPHS: Paul Dyer Photography

A 6,000 square foot 2-story new home complex in Milpitas was designed to facilitate the owners’ large business parties and gatherings, to have rooms for the kids to come back to upstairs, and a ground floor master suite with a huge walk-in closet. Several separate structures make up the dwelling: The main house, 3-car garage with carport for overflow parking, and a separate entertainment and recreation building separated by a courtyard from the main house. The business activities include gatherings in the hundreds of people, so parking was maximized and guests can flow in through a separate gate to party in the courtyard and recreation building. Inside this structure is a wet bar, billiard room, workout gym and home theater. The main house ground floor has formal and informal living rooms, open kitchen and master suite with views and expansive windows in every direction. The house is sited on the crestline of a hill with views of the San Francisco Bay and private golf course below. The indoor-outdoor aspect of the house is further accentuated with outside living and dining areas. High ceilings and expansive glass walls dissolve the sense of enclosure taking advantage of the site’s openness and privacy. The owner’s suite is downstairs in anticipation of aging-in-place, and upstairs there are three bedrooms and four bathrooms plus a sitting area lounge and casual TV loft area. The house sits on one acre at the top of a low hill range overlooking Milpitas. The city was very cognizant of the importance of keeping a low profile at this crestline and required extensive story poles and photo evidence of the proper height and siting so as not to be seen from certain selected vantage points. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: JCD Builders Inc. LANDSCAPE DESIGN: Morf Chang Landscape Architecture / ODS Architecture PHOTOGRAPHS: Paul Dyer Photography

BeachHaus is built on a previously developed site on Siesta Key. It sits directly on the bay but has Gulf views from the upper floor and roof deck. The client loved the old Florida cracker beach houses that are harder and harder to find these days. They loved the exposed roof joists, ship lap ceilings, light colored surfaces and inviting and durable materials. Given the risk of hurricanes, building those homes in these areas is not only disingenuous it is impossible. Instead, we focused on building the new era of beach houses; fully elevated to comfy with FEMA requirements, exposed concrete beams, long eaves to shade windows, coralina stone cladding, ship lap ceilings, and white oak and terrazzo flooring. The home is Net Zero Energy with a HERS index of -25 making it one of the most energy efficient homes in the US. It is also certified NGBS Emerald. Photos by Ryan Gamma Photography

Eric Roth Photography
Example of a mid-sized farmhouse brown two-story wood exterior home design in Boston

Our client was fighting for available space at home and so we worked with them to design and build subtle, concealed storage & bookcase solution. Our joinery team tailored everything to suit the client's requirements, maximising the available space and creating plenty of room to tuck away assorted clutter. Flush sliding doors with hidden sliding mechanisms were made in order to negate the need for ironmongery and maintain a clean appearance. The whole thing was painted in a fresh, hard wearing white finish in our own spray facility and our carpenters installed everything on site leaving the client to enjoy their newly de-cluttered living space.

Restoration of a 130 year old portico in Montreal's West end. This project was undertaken to restore the grand entry to a lovely heritage home. The structure suffered from major deterioration including rot and damage from carpenter ants. The floor structure and stairs were completely replaced with Ipe decking and treads. The newel posts, square columns and pedestals were constructed on site from PVC lumber to prevent rot in the future. The entire structure stripped, sanded and repainted after all the fascia, soffits and cornice moldings were replaced. The handrails and balusters were reproduced in yellow pine and updated to meet modern code requirements. The metal roof was patched and repainted, and the concrete footings repaired and parged. I'm confident that our work will last another century!