A-to-Z House in San Francisco, California by SAW // Spiegel Aihara Workshop

Article source: v2com

The A-to-Z House by SAW // Spiegel Aihara Workshop wins a 2017 Architecture Award from the San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIASF).

The A-to-Z House proposes an alternative to conventional approaches for expanding an outmoded San Francisco home. Perched on a hillside in Golden Gate Heights, a modest single story 1934 developer vernacular structure had limited space and failed to take advantage of expansive views of Sutro Tower, Golden Gate Park, Sausalito, and the Bay. But rather than replacing or merely attaching to the existing structure, the A-to-Z strategy seizes upon the existing forms – scaling, repeating, and manipulating found objects into a contextual collection of structures comprising a dynamic home immersed in its surroundings.

Perspective of Nested Volumes, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

• Architects: SAW // Spiegel Aihara Workshop (Dan Spiegel, SAW)
• Project: A-to-Z House
• Location: San Francisco, California, USA
• Photography: Bruce Damonte
• Landscape Architect: Megumi Aihara, SAW
• Project Collaborators: Dustin Stephens, Monica Sanga, Osma Dossani
• Structural Engineer: Strandberg Engineering
• Completed: 2016

Channeled Ribbon Window, Open, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

A new gabled roof structure is inserted at the ridgeline of the existing living room bar, stepping back from the street to reduce mass and nestling into the existing roof to establish a low horizon line. This datum is characterized by a ribbon of operable windows that wrap two corners of the building to take advantage of critical views, accented by to a sawtooth window system and thickened metal edge. Inside, variations of the floor level and ceiling height provide different ways to experience this horizon in each space, from sweeping vista to private lookout.

Exterior Facade/ Nested Volumes / Sawtooth Window, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

Exterior Facade/ Nested Volumes / Channeled Ribbon Window, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

As the new gabled structure reaches the carefully terraced back yard, it twists and wraps down around the dining room. This turn along a torqued Z-shaped axis (alternately horizontal and vertical) is held ever so slightly apart from the existing house, using a band of light and the articulation of the ceiling to create meaningful difference out of similar forms.

Split Level Interior Sawtooth Window View Corridors, Image Courtesy © Bruce amonte

Lookout Den, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

SAW // Spiegel Aihara Workshop is a multidisciplinary design team with backgrounds in art and public policy, and primary expertise in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, and education. SAW approaches design as a collaborative, research based process. SAW believes in the transformative power of good design, in the inextricable relationship between building and context, and in the vital role the built environment plays in the development of community.

Kitchen / Gap Between Nested Volumes, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

Master Bedroom Thickened ThresholdImage Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

Site Plan, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

1st Floor Plan, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

2nd Floor Plan, Image Courtesy © Bruce Damonte

Tags: California, USA

Categories: House, Residential

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