Brookside House
The house borrows from various sources while providing a family with an inspiring and comfortable setting that reconnects their daily life to the landscape. The house is tall and narrow with 3 major levels and 3 minor levels for a total of 6 levels within the house.
The house is also designed and constructed to meet State of California Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fire construction since the house is located in a very severe fire hazard area (VSFHA) zone.
Entry into the house is found under a low cantilevered deck and into the entry hall which suddenly explodes upward 30 feet, animated by two stacked bridges. This hall is lit from above by high windows and made cool by split-face concrete block walls and floor tile. As one ascends the stairs, the materials change from heavy masonry to wood to symbolize the movement from earth to light through the senses: by air temperature, by movement, by different views, and by different lighting.
As one ascends the stair from the dark coolness of the entry hall to the light, or crosses over the two bridges , the house interiors and exteriors are experienced from different viewpoints---The passage up, down and through the space is exciting and dynamic.
At the very top of the stair well, the master bathroom tub-room opens into the stair well with sliding translucent screens, reminiscent of Japanese shoji screens, that can be open or closed, depending on the owner’s wishes and their thermal needs. A large skylight back-lights the screen to bring an additional and unexpected source of daylight into the space.
Outside, the roof de-materializes into its basic structural components for architectural and “green” purposes. The roof is solid where needed but opens up to reveal the structural framing to form a trellis that creates a sense of enclosure over the cantilevered deck in comparable. This expressed structure, constructed in-expensive pressure-treated low-grade lumber, is assembled with great care reminiscent of Japanese wood-working. The extra-tall slender steel pipe columns, reminiscent of early 20th century modern architecture, are expressed as architectural tree trunks supporting a high trellis structure that suggests a rain-forest tree canopy and suggests a connection with the large Redwood on a few feet away.
This modest house packs a lot within its tiny envelope: big spaces, a couple of bridges and a monumental trellis, all in the effort to find a place in the sun.
House appearance can be best described as California modern, California Contemporary , San Francisco modern, Bay Area modern residential design, Sustainability and green design.
The house is also designed and constructed to meet State of California Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fire construction since the house is located in a very severe fire hazard area (VSFHA) zone.
Entry into the house is found under a low cantilevered deck and into the entry hall which suddenly explodes upward 30 feet, animated by two stacked bridges. This hall is lit from above by high windows and made cool by split-face concrete block walls and floor tile. As one ascends the stairs, the materials change from heavy masonry to wood to symbolize the movement from earth to light through the senses: by air temperature, by movement, by different views, and by different lighting.
As one ascends the stair from the dark coolness of the entry hall to the light, or crosses over the two bridges , the house interiors and exteriors are experienced from different viewpoints---The passage up, down and through the space is exciting and dynamic.
At the very top of the stair well, the master bathroom tub-room opens into the stair well with sliding translucent screens, reminiscent of Japanese shoji screens, that can be open or closed, depending on the owner’s wishes and their thermal needs. A large skylight back-lights the screen to bring an additional and unexpected source of daylight into the space.
Outside, the roof de-materializes into its basic structural components for architectural and “green” purposes. The roof is solid where needed but opens up to reveal the structural framing to form a trellis that creates a sense of enclosure over the cantilevered deck in comparable. This expressed structure, constructed in-expensive pressure-treated low-grade lumber, is assembled with great care reminiscent of Japanese wood-working. The extra-tall slender steel pipe columns, reminiscent of early 20th century modern architecture, are expressed as architectural tree trunks supporting a high trellis structure that suggests a rain-forest tree canopy and suggests a connection with the large Redwood on a few feet away.
This modest house packs a lot within its tiny envelope: big spaces, a couple of bridges and a monumental trellis, all in the effort to find a place in the sun.
House appearance can be best described as California modern, California Contemporary , San Francisco modern, Bay Area modern residential design, Sustainability and green design.
Project Year: 2013
Project Cost: USD 750,001 - USD 1,000,000
Country: United States
