Redwood House

The project is a renovation of a 1974 two-story house designed by prominent San Francisco architect Albert Lanier (husband of Ruth Asawa). Each level is framed by exterior courtyards which provide both sheltered intimacy with nature and visual connection to the city beyond. The owners were interested in increasing the volume of the house while maintaining its original DNA as defined by angular geometries, redwood interiors and exterior courtyards. Our approach was to expand and surgically modify the house in an architecturally non-aggressive manner. Spaces were opened up and flow and views were maximized. Color, texture, light and vegetation were used to harmonize with the vintage redwood tonalities and the owners’ eclecticism.

Dark-knotted douglas fir flooring, fabricated from locally reclaimed pier pilings, was used throughout the house to balance the dark redwood living level with the lighter-hued floors below. The sculptural blackened steel stair anchors the house, weaving together the floors and their diverse spatial character. Hard materials including terrazzo, concrete and mottled gray marble were used to counterbalance the warm softwoods. The house façades and cascading courtyards were reclad in irregular western red cedar planks.

The design objectives were to create a multi-level house where each level was distinctive in character yet unified by material expression. There is a delicate balance between the vibrancy of the new work with the historical preservation. Layers were peeled away and spaces were opened-up and reorganized to provide access to nature and allow sunlight to penetrate from all cardinal directions.