US studio Schwartz and Architecture has accomplished a delicate renovation and enlargement of the Inexperienced Home, which was inbuilt 1966 and designed by Aaron Inexperienced, an affiliate of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Situated within the Silicon Valley metropolis of Palo Alto, the home was revamped for a pair with three children. When the shoppers purchased the home, it was “just about untouched by the unique homeowners”, mentioned San Francisco-based Schwartz and Architecture, or S^A.
The home is called after its authentic architect – Aaron Inexperienced, who served as Wright’s West Coast consultant beginning in 1951. Along with engaged on dozens of Wright’s tasks, Inexperienced additionally ran his personal follow.
For this home, Inexperienced conceived a low-lying construction with a footprint that was roughly triangular in form.
Partitions had been made from concrete masonry, and the house was topped with a sculptural roof with uncovered wood beams. Lengthy drainage scuppers folded down towards the bottom.
Along with its designer, the home can be notable for its developer.
It sits throughout the Palo Verde neighbourhood, which was developed beginning within the Fifties by Joseph Eichler, who’s credited for introducing modern-style tract housing to America following the Second World Conflict.
Of the 11,000 houses Eichler inbuilt California, about 2,700 of them had been in Palo Alto.
The remodelling of the Inexperienced Home – a lot of which happened throughout the Covid pandemic – concerned a full overhaul of the Nineteen Sixties dwelling, together with the addition of an connected quantity and two indifferent outbuildings.
The architects approached the challenge with the angle, “First, do no hurt” – a dictum credited to the traditional Greek doctor Hippocrates.
“Once we first met on website, we mentioned the significance of respecting the integrity of the unique dwelling and panorama,” mentioned Schwartz and Structure.
“Our problem was to guard the design integrity of the house whereas including a considerable quantity of house to make the house viable for a younger household with three kids.”
It’s nestled right into a “flag lot”, which has an extended, slender driveway connecting to the primary highway.
The unique home totalled 1,590 sq. ft (148 sq. metres) and contained three bedrooms and two loos, together with public areas. Determining how one can enlarge the house was a problem, in response to the studio.
“Given the spider-like sculptural roof and scuppers of the unique, the house already was an entire thought, with no apparent resolution of how one can add to the composition,” the crew mentioned.
“Our first design transfer was to move off the present downward sloping roof beams mid-span and add a small rear addition alongside your entire size of the home, below a brand new upward-sloping roof.”
Lifting up the roof introduced extra mild into the present kitchen and bedrooms, which previously had very low ceilings, and allowed for hidden cove lighting.
The crew additionally raised the roofline and scupper within the entrance of the home, forming a brand new carport. The unique carport – which was low and now not met native code necessities – was reworked right into a household room with a sunken dialog pit, drawing upon the house’s “mid-century vibe”.
The crew additionally added a boxy quantity to comprise a major bed room suite, which is tucked behind a board-formed concrete wall.
“Taking inspiration from the house’s present concrete block partitions, our addition peeks out behind the brand new wall – referential however deferential,” the agency mentioned, including {that a} clerestory within the addition counters the heaviness of the unique roof.
The concrete ground slab couldn’t be punctured, so the crew changed the unique flooring with large-format tiles made from terrazzo.
Sure customized furnishings had been retained and up to date. For example, chairs had been re-upholstered with patterned cloth. Michigan-based inside designer Sarah Sherman Samuel labored with the crew on materials alternatives and furnishings.
Among the many particular options is a secret bookcase/door in one of many child’s rooms, which connects to the first lavatory.
In complete, the agency added 1,512 sq. ft (140 sq. metres) to the home. It now encompasses 3,102 sq. ft (288 sq. metres) and accommodates 4 bedrooms and three and a half baths.
The studio additionally added a fitness center and workplace constructing totalling 288 sq. ft (27 sq. metres) and an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, containing 215 sq. ft (20 sq. metres).
The panorama – created by native agency Boxleaf Design – options patches of tall grasses, flowers and bushes laced with stone pathways.
All through the general challenge, the crew was guided by the notion of letting the “fashionable interventions shine” whereas at all times asking: “What would Aaron do?”
Different work by Schwartz and Structure features a Silicon Valley courtyard-style house that’s fronted by a tall “acoustic wall” and a cedar-clad ADU that serves as a “leaping off level” for contemporary design in California’s wine nation.
The pictures is by Ayla Christman.
Challenge credit:
Structure and inside design: Schwartz and Structure (S^A)
S^A crew: Neal J.Z. Schwartz (founder and principal), Christopher Baile (principal), Wyatt Arnold (principal), Neil O’Shea (senior specialist)
Interiors: SSS Atelier
Lighting design: Loisos & Ubbelohde
Panorama design: Boxleaf Design
Contractor: Marrone & Marrone
Structural engineer: SWM & Associates
