RENOVATION 2007 First Place Award for Green Building, National Association of the Renovation Industry
This project reconfigured and added to an existing home in the Berkeley Hills, capitalizing on the fantastic view. The clients had suffered for years with the principal entry through the kitchen and with a spiral stair as the only interior access to their downstairs laundry and exercise room. The solution was to open up and enlarge the main living space to create a single room for the dining, living, kitchen, entry and stair. What was the deck on the view side, became the living room. With the living room shifted over, the dining room and kitchen were expanded and a large island was created to separate the functions. Off this central space smaller spaces were added that provide intimacy: a library, a small deck and a rear patio was re-discovered. Oak floors and cabinets provide warmth, in contrast with the light palette of the walls and ceiling. Dark patina on steel details provides definition to the room.