Most of the available lots in town are on steeply sloping sites. Our challenge was designing a 4,000 square foot home and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) that worked with the site topography and preserved neighbors’ views.

As a result of our constraints, the garage is the only element of the house visible from the street. A landscape stair takes one down from street level to a patio area that serves as the public entry to the home and doubles as an outdoor entertainment space.

Immediately upon entering, large doors frame a rear yard deck and bay views in the distance. The floor plan is open and contemporary. A guest suite is also located on this floor.

As with all our projects, naturally lit spaces are an important design element. In addition to beautifully modeling the interior rooms, light contributes to the interconnected feeling between floors. We placed windows or skylights at the end of each stair run to visually draw one’s attention from one space into the next.

The middle floor below includes three ensuite bedrooms, and a shaded deck accessed from the main bedroom.

The lower floor is a generously sized one-bedroom ADU with its own private deck.