Lafayette, California

For this corner lot we replaced the front lawn with native drought resistant plants, relocated the front pathway and re-used its original pavers.

Marysville, California

This home is in the foothill forests above Marysville. Its structure is 4 large glulam beams to form a stable modern teepee that frees up the interior spaces and allows for a floating second floor.

James Dixon was project architect for this home while working with the late Aaron Green, FAIA.

Madrone

Restaurant+Lounge+Bar

San Francisco

As a part of the night life scene along Geary Boulevard in the Theater District this project develops an interior space between two historical buildings by opening up their common center and connecting three levels spatially.

At the street level is the bar and restaurant. There is a mezzanine floor above and a lounge below.

All the wood for flooring, tables, paneling, and bar is from the native Madrone tree.

Notre Dame des

Victoires School

Auditorium

City Loft

Bath & Kitchen

Remodel

San Francisco

Remodeled a kitchen and bathroom in a loft in a converted 1927 Weyerhauser Paper Warehouse.

New factory sash window system for shower surround to replicate the historical factory sash windows, new red steel supports for cabinets, new custom terrazzo countertops, and new mahogany cabinets to match the original 1927 lobby.

Historical

Apartment

Building

Renovation

San Francisco

Complete renovation of a building that was gutted by an arsonist-caused fire. This building has regained its place as a valued contributor to a national registered historic district along Bush Street.

Suburban Cottage

Site Renovation

Outdoor Room &

Landscape

Lafayette, California

For this 1930s cottage we added a new outdoor room with a roof and walls to match the original home. The new outdoor room is at the rear yard at the side of the existing garage and has a gas fireplace, a BBQ area, and and an outdoor TV.

There are new permeable concrete pavers at the rear yard and the front path.

This project replaces approximately a thousand square feet of concrete with new plants, new permeable pavers, and new trees.

Edwardian Renovation

San Francisco

Interior renovation of a 1908 Edwardian to add a dining room. We expressed the original idea of lath for the historical lath and plaster walls, used new Douglas Fir flooring to harmonize with the historical Douglas Fir flooring, and exposed the structural bones of the home so that it could tell its own story from 1908 to the present day.

Suburban Cottage

Front Yard Renovation

Victorian

Renovation

San Francisco

The renovation of this Victorian Queen Anne Cottage provides spatial drama within a small footprint by opening up the attic at the family room, removing part of the roof and adding a clerestory window, replacing the removed roof with a private deck with a hot tub, and adding large arched windows at the renovated spaces. The renovated family room will receive light from two sides on a very narrow urban lot.

This compact plan unites the renovated family room with the new kitchen and adds two new interior stairs, one stair to the new second floor and the other stair  to the renovated lower level garage and wine cellar.

The 1980s remodel that gutted and destroyed all but the Victorian front room was completely removed and the few Victorian touches that remained were replicated to bring the spirit back to the home. The new interior stairs use appropriately detailed balustrades. The new interior trim for baseboards, doors, and windows matches the Victorian originals.

Marina Style

Renovation

Semi-Open Plan

San Francisco

A remodel of a 1927 Marina Style home in the Outer Sunset, three blocks from the Pacific Ocean, in San Francisco. The design goal and philosophy: if this home could dream, what would it dream its renovation could be.

Upper floor: new dining room, new semi-open kitchen, new bathroom, new interior stair to new lower level.

Lower level is entirely new and includes a new media room, new kitchenette, new bathroom, new bedroom, and new laundry. Materials and details are selected to have a respectful dialog across time to the home's original 1927 design. For example, the new gate at top of the new exterior stair will match the style of the existing 1927 interior glass doors.

City Historical Flat

Interiors & Custom Furniture

San Francisco

Remodel of a dining room, living room, and kitchen of a penthouse flat on Nob Hill in a 1929 Spanish Gothic high-rise. 

Designed the dining table with plywood layers in the outline of the room, and a glass top to show the layers. Dining seats on casters pull up to recesses in table base and are rolled into corners of room when not in use and at catered events.

Selected art, furnishings, and furniture in the living room to keep the focus on the view, all the furniture is below the sill height of the windows.

Remodeled kitchen with custom open glass shelves at upper cabinets and sliding trays in base cabinets.

Oxbow Lake Home

New Home & Landscaping

Fulshear, Texas

This new rural home is carefully sited to preserve a mature grove of pecan and oak trees next to an oxbow lake. The oxbow lake is a former meander of the Brazos River. The open volumes, open plan, and simple massing of the home carry through the concept of a "barn for people." The trusses and beams are exposed inside and perform the actual structural work of supporting the roof while providing spatial richness and definition. The corrugated metal roof and simple white walls continue the "barn for people" theme. The stone floor continues from inside to outside to further unite the home with its site.

All the doors slide into pockets so that the entire home becomes an open pavilion on the Texas prairie. Screens roll down to cover the openings when necessary to keep out any Texas bugs while allowing natural air flow and cooling. The limited windows on the south minimize heat gain from the Texas sun, and the deep verandas and planted trellises provide shade.

Texas Rear Yard

Fulshear, Texas

New rear yard BBQ area, terrace, pool, and ponds for an existing house.

Precast concrete, brick, and crushed gravel.

Marina Style

Renovation

Open Plan

San Francisco

A remodel of a 1927 Marina Style home in the Outer Sunset, with an open plan for new dining room, new kitchen, new island, new bathroom, new interior stair to new lower level.

Lower level is entirely new and includes a new media room, new bathroom, new bedroom, and new laundry. Materials and details are selected to have a respectful dialog across time to the home's original 1927 design.

Conceptual

Parklet

Lafayette, California

Conceptual parklet for downtown Lafayette.

Suburban Cottage

Add Outdoor Room,

Renovate Kitchen &

Dining Room,

New Landscaping

Lafayette, California

For this 1930s cottage we added a new outdoor room by extending the rear roof of the original home, and we renovated the kitchen, dining, powder room and laundry area. We added new double pocket doors between kitchen and outdoor room.

New vine grids on the house and detached garage keep the buildings cooler in the warm East Bay summers.

Conceptual

Park

Lafayette, California

Conceptual historically themed partk for downtown Lafayette.

Ben Lomond, California

This model is of the first building on 50 acres in the coastal redwoods. This first building will be a retreat for groups of film professionals, a venue for film screenings and large events, and a guest house for the executive producer.

There is an outdoor stage with amphitheater seating for live performances, a two tier outdoor dining terrace that seats 200 people, a north terrace with an outdoor bar, and a spa wing that is roofed but open to the forest.

The rectangular kernel of the 1970s building is kept and extended with a new tree form triangular geometry that allows it to reach into the groves of redwoods and embrace the slope of the site.