A-to-Z House

A-TO-Z HOUSE

SAW // Spiegel Aihara Workshop

A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Dan Spiegel 

MANUFACTURERS
Kolbe, Thermador, Timber Pro Coatings, TimberPro, White Princess Quartzite

PROJECT COLLABORATORS
Dustin Stephens, Monica Sanga, Osma Dossani

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Strandberg Engineering

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Megumi Aihara

PHOTOGRAPHS
Bruce Damonte

AREA
2256 ft²

YEAR
2016

LOCATION
San Francisco, United States

CATEGORY
Houses

A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte
A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte
A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte

Text description provided by architect.

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.

A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte
A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte

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.

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.

A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte
A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte

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.

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.

A-to-Z House
© Bruce Damonte


A-to-Z House
Elevation


A-to-Z House
Ground Floor Plan
A-to-Z House
First Floor Plan


A-to-Z House
Site Plan
A-to-Z House
Diagram