Sitting on a steep hillside, with a narrow frontage of less than 40 ft wide that opens up to more than 80 ft wide in the rear, the house gently touches the ground with a minimal footprint of 765 sf to accommodate 2,380 sf of three bedroom two and a half bath program into two stories with an attached garage on top connected by a bridge driveway to the street.

The upper level living area, including the kitchen and dining, opens directly onto the view deck on one end, while the other end opens to a high volume family room below, which connects the upper level living area to the lower level private bedrooms and bathrooms.

Architect’s scope of work includes planning, exterior, interior, built-in millwork design and furniture selections.

The main concept of the house derives from the contrasting elements of minimal frontage present and maximal rear view opportunities, concealed frontage and transparent rear, minimum footprint and maximum buildable envelope, warm board-and-batten exterior under intense Southern California sun and cool graphical modernist interior with peaceful soft daylight thru out the day.

The exterior cladding of the house is a play on vertical board-and-batten siding with 2x4 cedar battens incorporating the verticality of 40ft high existing Himalayan Cedar trees that are framing the house on east and west end.

The cladding system was organized into patterns that suggest varied depth and texture with shadows shifting throughout the day, while organizing exterior lighting fixtures, windows and vents.

A custom-made fence door that transitions the façade at garage level to the railing of exterior stairs, all the way down to the deck’s guardrail below seamlessly will greet one as one entering the house while enjoying the mountain views.

The view deck is finished with modular ipe deck systems on pedestals that are at the same finish level as the interior finish tiles, provides a seamless indoor outdoor living spaces. The 24 ft wide opening of sliding glass doors is framed by steel moment frame that connects to steel beams and caissons foundation system below.

Interior walls are combination of Benjamin Moore Super White and Metropolitan, a versatile off-white that suits tranquil, serene environment and a stylish gray with cool undertones that reflects the modern sophistication of 21st-century design.

The two paint colors are used to camouflage different spaces graphically in relation to the volume play of the interior spaces.

The consistent white and gray colors on wall and floor finishes thru out the interior spaces provides a clean calming feeling thru out the day while focusing on the luxury of volumetric spatial caves toward the constantly changing art of nature views on windows from every single room, including bathrooms.