Expanding Into the Outdoors

A home in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco expands to create a garden connector, allowing a realigned kitchen to become the conduit between the original formal dining room and a new informal family room that opens out onto a transformed garden—extending the home outdoors.

Home and Garden

This elegant, historic Dutch-style home in San Francisco was in need of a better connection to its garden, an under-used and difficult-to-negotiate rear yard. INTERSTICE Architects knew the solution was both architectural and landscape-focused.  It was a question of reconfiguration of both the kitchen and its awkward relationship to the steeply sloped site, which had limited the gardens usability for decades. The home was expanded and dug out to create new space at the lower level, while allowing the yard to establish a continuous relationship to the main living floor. The interiors were realigned to establish the kitchen as a connecting social space between the new informal, private family room, while the exterior garden was remade to be a clearly articulated extension of the social and entertainment level of the home.

Shaping the “Smart-Wall”

A full height cabinet “smart-wall” inside the residence epitomizes the key aspect of this project: the integration of spaces. This smart-wall establishes a material transition between the kitchen—where it acts as a storage and shelving wall—into the family room. From this living space, the design transforms, containing a new hearth, skylight, and entertainment center, before moving all the way through to the garden patio window wall—where it thickens to conceal a secret, private full bathroom.

 

 

 

Framed by Wood

Outside, the landscape is restructured from three unusable levels into a spacious two-level terraced garden. The living level provides a patio deck beyond the dynamic glass wall of the family room for exterior dining. An in-wall fountain anchors one end, along with a wood clad raised sun garden and a cozy fireplace, all framed by the warmth of wood and dark, smooth concrete.  Together these materials form a seat back that wraps the retaining walls and connects the more remote and private upper garden level. The upper garden is set on a wood clad deck with a sunken hot tub, an outdoor shower, and a hammock, all sheltered by deep plantings and mature tree ferns.

Natural as the Counterpoint

The predominance of natural exposed materials permeates the garden and the interior palette, allowing for a more sensual counterpoint from the rest of the formal and more traditional home.  Warm materials and discreet lighting create an inviting and pleasant night presence, while communicating an easy comfort as the home dissolves from interior to outdoors across the expansive glass facade. Festoon lights above and a spiral stair to the upstairs extended green garden roof improve the second level private studio.

 

 

Bringing Light Down

INTERSTICE designed the kitchen and light-well as a light-emitting garden column planted with tree bamboo. This space was particularly meant to bring light down into the new, lower media and guest room, excavated to host service spaces including an independent laundry room and full bath that allows for connection or full separation from the home office level below, and for the owners to enjoy increased privacy.

 

• Landscape
• Residential