Architect Designs a Super House For A Super Car Collector (House Tour)

It all started with a pendant light found in an exhibition in Paris. Named the New Old Light, it mixes eastern and western styles, old and modern aesthetics and encapsulated a lot of the ideals for a young Taiwanese American couple as they started their new home. This concept of the New Old extended beyond the light and became a central tenet to the renovation once the couple moved back to this space as a family with twins. The project was a small renovation of a kitchen and living room in a 1,000-square-foot condo to accommodate the family. The renovation included new floors, lighting, kitchen cabinetry, custom millwork and ceramic dinnerware for the space. The kitchen island design was inspired by Donald Judd’s library table. It had to provide adequate storage for the kitchen as well as function as an eating/work space at times. In addition, the island was constructed so that the storage volume could be removed from the bookcase legs and table top, for future use as a counter-height table. Sliding doors are constructed with hidden sliding hardware, and the design was inspired by traditional Shoji screens. Ceramic dinnerware was custom created for the kitchen space.

Not every home is built on a perfectly square and even lot where everything is all too straightforward. In fact, some of the most beautiful and exceptional residences were born because of challenging topography. Villa Ellsinger in Gothenburg falls in the latter category as the architect duo who inhabit it created a stunning space that […]

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This 7,000 sf house is nestled on a heavily wooded hilltop site in Ross, CA with breathtaking views of Mt. Tam and the San Francisco Bay over native California Oaks in one direction and the town of Ross through majestic old-growth redwoods in the other. The parti is a composition of simple volumes that maximizes a sense of openness to these views while maintaining privacy from neighbors and creating distinct zones within the property. Materials were carefully selected to strike a balance between a precise modernist language and the woodsy pastoral sensibility of this Northern California site. The volumes are clad in a terracotta rainscreen with rheinzink fascias. Custom aluminum doors and windows have extremely minimal sightlines. The landscape design was carefully considered to create different outdoor experiences to enhance the house. The floating master suite volume pushes out over the main living volume towards the canyon and views. The main dining kitchen area opens up to a lush lawn while the main living space steps down from a concrete plinth onto a wood floor that extends outdoors to a wood deck and anchored by a linear fire element. Guest rooms face the concrete terrace and look out over the mirror surface of an infinity edge lap pool hovering two inches above deck level. A fountain conceived as an 18″-high monolithic volume of water is visible from the entry and doubles as a spa. A home theater is located in the basement and a separate volume houses a gym area with a spa and an office for the owner’s business and his employees complete with its own private deck.

With a portfolio that includes some of San Francisco’s Painted Ladies, Phil Schinman was up to the challenge of a home’s shocking blue stairway.

Jonathan Feldman and his wife Lisa Lougee were determined to create a contemporary, sustainable, and functional home for their family within the building constraints of urban San Francisco. The original structure, built in 1905, was a New England brick and shingle style residence sitting next to an overgrown lot. It was given the tongue-in-cheek name The Farm, due to the rarity of backyards and outdoor living spaces in the city. “We fell in love with the farmhouse charm of the home” says Jonathan, “Lisa and I enjoyed imagining how the house must have looked out in the countryside of San Francisco in the 1900’s; we started joking around and calling it The Farm and it stuck!” To further the play on the home’s name, the Feldman family often lovingly refers to their band of rescue animals as their “flock.” In order to transform the older house into an outstandingly sustainable, modern home, the structure was essentially rebuilt from the inside out. The clients both loved the character and grace of the older home and wanted to preserve its visual continuity; their excitement towards the historic home combined with their conflicting design styles ultimately directed the course of the home’s restoration. Before the ambitious remodel, the house was a closed-off box. The new design opened the floor plan, flooding the interiors with natural light through a new central stair topped with expansive skylights. The basement was also transformed to include what is now a usable rear yard & deck. The house achieved LEED Platinum with an abundance of sustainable features, many of which are subtly hidden. Two types of water re-use systems were implemented on the property; rain water and grey water harvesting, with the tanks concealed below the rear deck. An HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilation) system provides the home with clean air without energy loss. All materials are sustainably sourced and non-toxic and the house also features water and electricity monitoring, easily accessible by panels throughout the home and smartphone technology. By striving for excellence in sustainable architecture while incorporating the design aesthetics of all members involved, the team for The Farm has been able to create an elegant structure perfectly fitting for unique and forward-thinking San Francisco.