«Return to Portfolio ListingLive/Work Infill Project
Excellence in Green Design and Craftsmanship
This home represents years of refining design ideas and collecting materials for the purpose of creating a warm and relaxed atmosphere on a tight budget. Good design can make a small home feel light and spacious. Because this lot is a city infill project, we had to connect to nature creatively; for instance, by growing an indoor vertical garden, framing views of tree tops via transom windows, and building a stair railing that doubles as a planter.
The steel trellis in the backyard was our answer to the privacy problem. We gain lights above the outdoor dining area and a sculptural screening from the view of neighboring windows.
The need for a professional work space and meeting area send us below ground. We didn’t want to change the character of the single-story neighborhood. The desire to bring natural light into these work spaces led us to build beautiful light wells beyond sliding doors. The ivy growing in this subterranean area is thriving and the glimpse of green (and occasionally rain or snow) is soothing.
A hand-troweled plaster finish was applied directly to the basement walls, accessing the earth’s constant sub-grade temperature and thermal mass. Doing this moderates the home’s temperature in summer and winter. Cool HEPA filtered basement air can be delivered into the bedrooms, keeping a comfortable sleeping temperature during hot summer months.
