Mountain style sunroom photo with a glass ceiling

Klopf Architecture and Outer space Landscape Architects designed a new warm, modern, open, indoor-outdoor home in Los Altos, California. Inspired by mid-century modern homes but looking for something completely new and custom, the owners, a couple with two children, bought an older ranch style home with the intention of replacing it. Created on a grid, the house is designed to be at rest with differentiated spaces for activities; living, playing, cooking, dining and a piano space. The low-sloping gable roof over the great room brings a grand feeling to the space. The clerestory windows at the high sloping roof make the grand space light and airy. Upon entering the house, an open atrium entry in the middle of the house provides light and nature to the great room. The Heath tile wall at the back of the atrium blocks direct view of the rear yard from the entry door for privacy. The bedrooms, bathrooms, play room and the sitting room are under flat wing-like roofs that balance on either side of the low sloping gable roof of the main space. Large sliding glass panels and pocketing glass doors foster openness to the front and back yards. In the front there is a fenced-in play space connected to the play room, creating an indoor-outdoor play space that could change in use over the years. The play room can also be closed off from the great room with a large pocketing door. In the rear, everything opens up to a deck overlooking a pool where the family can come together outdoors. Wood siding travels from exterior to interior, accentuating the indoor-outdoor nature of the house. Where the exterior siding doesn’t come inside, a palette of white oak floors, white walls, walnut cabinetry, and dark window frames ties all the spaces together to create a uniform feeling and flow throughout the house. The custom cabinetry matches the minimal joinery of the rest of the house, a trim-less, minimal appearance. Wood siding was mitered in the corners, including where siding meets the interior drywall. Wall materials were held up off the floor with a minimal reveal. This tight detailing gives a sense of cleanliness to the house. The garage door of the house is completely flush and of the same material as the garage wall, de-emphasizing the garage door and making the street presentation of the house kinder to the neighborhood. The house is akin to a custom, modern-day Eichler home in many ways. Inspired by mid-century modern homes with today’s materials, approaches, standards, and technologies. The goals were to create an indoor-outdoor home that was energy-efficient, light and flexible for young children to grow. This 3,000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom new house is located in Los Altos in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Klopf Architecture Project Team: John Klopf, AIA, and Chuang-Ming Liu 
Landscape Architect: Outer space Landscape Architects 
Structural Engineer: ZFA Structural Engineers 
Staging: Da Lusso Design 
Photography ©2018 Mariko Reed 
Location: Los Altos, CA
 Year completed: 2017

Elliott Johnson Photographer
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Architectural advisement, Interior Design, Custom Furniture Design & Art Curation by Chango & Co Photography by Sarah Elliott See the feature in Rue Magazine

Reverse Shed Eichler This project is part tear-down, part remodel. The original L-shaped plan allowed the living/ dining/ kitchen wing to be completely re-built while retaining the shell of the bedroom wing virtually intact. The rebuilt entertainment wing was enlarged 50% and covered with a low-slope reverse-shed roof sloping from eleven to thirteen feet. The shed roof floats on a continuous glass clerestory with eight foot transom. Cantilevered steel frames support wood roof beams with eaves of up to ten feet. An interior glass clerestory separates the kitchen and livingroom for sound control. A wall-to-wall skylight illuminates the north wall of the kitchen/family room. New additions at the back of the house add several “sliding” wall planes, where interior walls continue past full-height windows to the exterior, complimenting the typical Eichler indoor-outdoor ceiling and floor planes. The existing bedroom wing has been re-configured on the interior, changing three small bedrooms into two larger ones, and adding a guest suite in part of the original garage. A previous den addition provided the perfect spot for a large master ensuite bath and walk-in closet. Natural materials predominate, with fir ceilings, limestone veneer fireplace walls, anigre veneer cabinets, fir sliding windows and interior doors, bamboo floors, and concrete patios and walks. Landscape design by Bernard Trainor: www.bernardtrainor.com (see “Concrete Jungle” in April 2014 edition of Dwell magazine). Microsoft Media Center installation of the Year, 2008: www.cybermanor.com/ultimate_install.html (automated shades, radiant heating system, and lights, as well as security & sound).

Balanced shade, dappled sunlight, and tree canopy views are the basis of the 518 Sacramento Drive house design. The entry is on center with the lot’s primary Live Oak tree, and each interior space has a unique relationship to this central element. Composed of crisply-detailed, considered materials, surfaces and finishes, the home is a balance of sophistication and restraint. The two-story massing is designed to allow for a bold yet humble street presence, while each single-story wing extends through the site, forming intimate outdoor and indoor spaces. Photo: Brian Mihealsick

This home remodel is a celebration of curves and light. Starting from humble beginnings as a basic builder ranch style house, the design challenge was maximizing natural light throughout and providing the unique contemporary style the client’s craved. The Entry offers a spectacular first impression and sets the tone with a large skylight and an illuminated curved wall covered in a wavy pattern Porcelanosa tile. The chic entertaining kitchen was designed to celebrate a public lifestyle and plenty of entertaining. Celebrating height with a robust amount of interior architectural details, this dynamic kitchen still gives one that cozy feeling of home sweet home. The large “L” shaped island accommodates 7 for seating. Large pendants over the kitchen table and sink provide additional task lighting and whimsy. The Dekton “puzzle” countertop connection was designed to aid the transition between the two color countertops and is one of the homeowner’s favorite details. The built-in bistro table provides additional seating and flows easily into the Living Room. A curved wall in the Living Room showcases a contemporary linear fireplace and tv which is tucked away in a niche. Placing the fireplace and furniture arrangement at an angle allowed for more natural walkway areas that communicated with the exterior doors and the kitchen working areas. The dining room’s open plan is perfect for small groups and expands easily for larger events. Raising the ceiling created visual interest and bringing the pop of teal from the Kitchen cabinets ties the space together. A built-in buffet provides ample storage and display. The Sitting Room (also called the Piano room for its previous life as such) is adjacent to the Kitchen and allows for easy conversation between chef and guests. It captures the homeowner’s chic sense of style and joie de vivre.

Matthew Niemann Photography www.matthewniemann.com
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Creating spaces that make connections between the indoors and out, while making the most of the panoramic lake views and lush landscape that surround were two key goals of this seasonal home’s design. Central entrance into the residence brings you to an open dining and lounge space, with natural light flooding in through rooftop skylights. Soaring ceilings and subdued color palettes give the adjacent kitchen and living room an airy and expansive feeling, while the large, sliding glass doors and picture windows bring the warmth of the outdoors in. The family room, located in one of the two zinc-clad connector spaces, offers a more intimate lounge area and leads into the master suite wing, complete with vaulted ceilings and sleek lines. Three additional guest suites can be found in the opposite wing of the home, providing ideally separate living spaces for a multi-generational family. Photographer: Steve Hall © Hedrich Blessing Architect: Booth Hansen

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My client for this project was a builder/ developer. He had purchased a flat two acre parcel with vineyards that was within easy walking distance of downtown St. Helena. He planned to “build for sale” a three bedroom home with a separate one bedroom guest house, a pool and a pool house. He wanted a modern type farmhouse design that opened up to the site and to the views of the hills beyond and to keep as much of the vineyards as possible. The house was designed with a central Great Room consisting of a kitchen area, a dining area, and a living area all under one roof with a central linear cupola to bring natural light into the middle of the room. One approaches the entrance to the home through a small garden with water features on both sides of a path that leads to a covered entry porch and the front door. The entry hall runs the length of the Great Room and serves as both a link to the bedroom wings, the garage, the laundry room and a small study. The entry hall also serves as an art gallery for the future owner. An interstitial space between the entry hall and the Great Room contains a pantry, a wine room, an entry closet, an electrical room and a powder room. A large deep porch on the pool/garden side of the house extends most of the length of the Great Room with a small breakfast Room at one end that opens both to the kitchen and to this porch. The Great Room and porch open up to a swimming pool that is on on axis with the front door. The main house has two wings. One wing contains the master bedroom suite with a walk in closet and a bathroom with soaking tub in a bay window and separate toilet room and shower. The other wing at the opposite end of the househas two children’s bedrooms each with their own bathroom a small play room serving both bedrooms. A rear hallway serves the children’s wing, a Laundry Room and a Study, the garage and a stair to an Au Pair unit above the garage. A separate small one bedroom guest house has a small living room, a kitchen, a toilet room to serve the pool and a small covered porch. The bedroom is ensuite with a full bath. This guest house faces the side of the pool and serves to provide privacy and block views ofthe neighbors to the east. A Pool house at the far end of the pool on the main axis of the house has a covered sitting area with a pizza oven, a bar area and a small bathroom. Vineyards were saved on all sides of the house to help provide a private enclave within the vines. The exterior of the house has simple gable roofs over the major rooms of the house with sloping ceilings and large wooden trusses in the Great Room and plaster sloping ceilings in the bedrooms. The exterior siding through out is painted board and batten siding similar to farmhouses of other older homes in the area. Clyde Construction: General Contractor Photographed by: Paul Rollins

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Lake Front Country Estate, designed by Tom Markalunas and built by Resort Custom Homes. Photogrpahy by Rachael Boling
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