Castro Wedge Site

This two-story duplex is located on a classic San Francisco steeply sloped site in the Castro district.  The building was in desperate need of a renovation of both its architecture, and its dilapidated site, which were working against one another.  The lower unit was buried at the rear into the steep site, and the upper unit’s access further hampered the lower’s units light and possible ground floor use of the generous open space typical on these deep lots.

Historic Facade Dissolves into a Modern Garden Home

The Design leverages the site’s great orientation, and shared South alley to bring light into the long side of the building, and deep into the now opened-up public spaces of the two units.  Starting at the street the project upgrades a forlornly stripped façade, to return it to its historical craftsman’s character,  while the interiors are completely transformed into a fluid open “raumplan” that allows space to flow continuously, just as the envelope dissolves into glass towards the private rear garden, where patio decks terrace into the hillside allowing maximum use of this protected outdoor space.

An Open Garden “Room”

A small existing shed becomes the focal point of the new landscape that creates an extended living room from the lower unit to a garden wall which provides an ample deck for the rear yard between new planting and fruit trees that provide shade and frame the volume of the rear shared social space of the backyard commons. Brick foundations were replaced, and steel infrastructure installed making the seamless open spaces possible – as the new home is now structurally up to code, and a perfect fit for the California lifestyle the is the hallmark of great modern architecture in the Bay Area.

 

• Landscape
• Residential