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Translucence House

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This renovation and addition unravels a chapter of ill-considered renovations to create an urban retreat for a young family on a remarkable site. By re-using more than half of the original structure and improving the home's environmental performance, the project also minimizes the 4000 SF home’s embodied carbon and ongoing carbon footprint.

photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher

The double-wide lot sits atop a bluff and next to a community garden, making for a rare condition in the heart of the city: a large, secluded site, overlooking the city and the bay. The site was filled and leveled in the early 1960’s to accommodate the original house and pool, the scene of legendary parties. Renovations by a subsequent owner led to a messy collection of rooms out of sync with the flow of daily life

photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher
photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher

The design brings clarity and openness to the home by taking an almost surgical approach, retaining essential structural elements while introducing new features. A series of interventions break apart the existing box, rewriting the relationships and connections between rooms. Glass and natural light both diffuse and hold together the composition, defining scenes throughout the house that explore perceptions of inside/outside, private/public, and light/dark as well as materiality.

photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher
photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher

The most visible intervention is the insertion of an all-glass pavilion enclosing a dining and family room. Neither completely indoors nor outdoors, this volume reaches into the rear yard to engage sweeping views of the bay and East Bay hills beyond. Trellis of aluminum and wood shade the space without encumbering the sense of expansiveness.

photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher
photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher

An existing two-story volume–once dominated by a bulky staircase–is opened up to create a more befitting entry way and a flexible lounge for the home. A brown-glass stair and bridge float within this space connecting levels and rooms, and adding a dimension of light and color. The brown glass, which evokes the modern-era origins of the home, shifts from solid to transparent with the changing light each day. Around this lounge extend two wings of living space: an open kitchen anchors the dining/living pavilion on one side while a guest room and child’s play room sit opposite.

photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher
photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher

The upper floor is expanded and refined. The master suite is reimagined as a singular, light-filled volume extending the full depth of the floor to the outdoors. A curved glass shower pushes beyond the envelope of the house and into the screened front balcony—a secretly provocative gesture to the street below. In this space in particular the play of privacy and views, light and shadow, recall California’s Light and Space art movement to which the design pays homage.

photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher
photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher

Throughout the house curved forms and playful elements—including a child’s fire pole connecting the two floors—counter the home’s rectilinear form. Finally, a front facade composed vertical and horizontal wood boards and slats, echoes the trellises and partitions, tying together the home’s public and private expressions and replacing an opaque street presence with a wood screen activated by shifting light from day to night.

photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher
photo_credit Joe Fletcher
Joe Fletcher

Material Used :
Facade cladding:  
Stone, Slab, Stone Fleury
Stone, Mortar Set, Stone Fleury
Stone, Pedestals, Stone Fleury
Wood, Solid Stock, Exotic Hardwoods
Wood, Veneer, Exotic Hardwoods
Plaster, Stucco, Sto Corp.

Glazing:   
Glass, GL3A & GL3b, Bendheim Architectural Glass
Colored Glass, GL5, Bendheim Architectural Glass
Clear Glass, Siller Stairs

Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: 
Laminates, Abet Laminati

Special surfacing:
Counter, Corian
Counter with integrated sink, Corian

Flooring:
Plane Tile (Bathroom floor), Stonepeak Ceramics Elements
Ceramic Tile (Bathroom wall), Heath Tile

Lighting:
Ceiling Light (Kitchen), Vibia
Track Light (Kitchen), FLOS
Pendant Light (Master bedroom), Nyta
Wall Lamp (Master bedroom), Nyta
Ceiling Light (Master bathroom), David Trubridge
Ceiling Lamp (Outdoor), Vibia

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The Translucence House

The Translucence House
Joe Fletcher

This nice feature all-glass staircase was designed for an amazing residential project in San Francisco. The Translucence House, designed by Fougeron Architecture, is well thought through, from the outside and inside. Through our glass staircase you get a nice view over the city and to the sea. The staircase itself has a bronze tinted glass and most of the hardware is laminated inside the glass to provide clean uninterrupted surfaces, which look luxurious and are easy to clean. Further the staircase is leading up to an all glass bridge, which was also designed and built by Siller Stairs. 

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Brand description
Italian Design Stairs! Trust experience! Siller stairs is specialist for glass stairs and modern design stairs since 1995 Exclusive Italian stair design and top quality are the trademarks of Siller stairs. Siller is designing and manufacturing custom made stairs for people all over the world. The stair designer Christian Siller puts a strong focus on light designs, such as glass stairs, self supporting stairs and stairs with structural handrail. The knowledge about the working materials such as glass, stainless steel or concrete help us to create unique designs for our clients. By working very closely with home owners, designers and architects we can give advice through the whole construction and designing process and help to get the ideal product suitable to the clients expactation and adequate to technical requirements. Design stairs with passion by Siller
Products applied in Commercial , Cultural , Recreational , +1
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