With one more week of work to go on the drawings for this site, here’s what I’ve been working on so far.  

“Inland.”

This guest house addition to a bay-front home in Tiburon, California near San Francisco is the epitome of rustic sophistication.  Intersecting quadrants and a multi-layered, inset hill-side approach make this space feel larger than it is, providing the family with an accommodating, multi-purpose, stand-alone addition to serve out-of-town visitors, pool party guests, and daily family recreation.

Natural, hardy materials will pull the view of the bay’s surrounding mountains into the space.  Impressions of local flora and fauna will contribute to the natural, rustic, but lush feel of this bay-front addition.  The leopard shark, for example, a species that thrives in the San Francisco Bay and up the Pacific coastline, is the city’s likely namesake.  The shark’s distinctive markings will find expression throughout the space, including the pool’s mosaic floor, upholstery and other accents.  Large, responsive windows and spacious decks will provide optimal views from both inside and out.  Additional skylights and a westward facing orientation will optimize light for a comfortable, and beautiful interior environment.

And, a living roof which hosts native plant and animal life serves functional and aesthetic purposes.  Flooding, accumulated solar radiation and some loss of habitat are all avoided through the preservation of the hillside on the guest house roof.  Aesthetically, the living roof will cause the mostly-sunken guest house to blend further into the surrounding site so as to preserve an undistracted view from the main house.