This new construction was designed for a family of four, on a small lot that appeared unbuildable given its enormous live oak trees and odd shape. The oaks presented a particular challenge, as the architect designed around not only the trees, but their critical root systems. The result is layout that stretches and bends, make the home feel much larger than it actually is.

It was very important to the client that the design focused on bringing the outside in and giving the client a full view of nearly all the property from the central kitchen area. Despite a very modest budget, floor-to-ceiling windows, concrete floors, and interior walls of simple, stained plywood helped provide an outdoor, tree-house effect. In homage to the client’s more technical half, there are several references to binary within the design, most notably the siding pattern.

00 This new home was designed for a family of four on a small lot that appeared unbuildable given an enormous pair of Live Oak trees and their critical root zones.

01 The resultant buildable area accommodated a pair of volumes connected by a spatial isthmus creating a barbell shaped footprint.

10 The pair of inside corners provide diagonal views between a corresponding pair of outdoor zones: the public front and the private back corners of the site.

11 The house reflects the personalities of the pair of owners. Plywood interior wall surfaces and stained concrete floors are warm and relaxed, reflecting her hard-working earthiness and contrast with his tech-y entrepreneurialism reflected in the scrappy but resourceful ‘bar-code’ exterior siding pattern.