Four Houses Four Stories - Flipbook - Page 61
SITE PLAN
The Tree “Sculpture”
Garage Drivecourt
Entry Walk
Stucco Bench Wall
Turf Band Planter
Sculpture Pruned Small Trees
Turfstone Lawn
Stepped Water Feature
Turfed Play Areas
Gravel Roof
Single-Ply Vinyl Roof
Pool
Spa
Trampoline in lowered pit
Upper Entertainment Patio
Metal Shade Fin
Amphitheater Steps
Skyramp
Driveway
Decomposed Granite Parking Apron
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Our clients already
lived on the site!
They loved their
leafy street occupied by half-acre lots
and similar 50s ranch
styled homes. After examining other places to
build their dream house,
their existing site kept
creeping back to the top
of the list. Mostly because
the back end of the site had
a southern exposure and that
they might be “spirited trend
setters” in a neighborhood that
would soon be transformed by
a new generation of families with
plans of their own. Maybe they could
set an intelligent example? The long
narrow site forced us to consider the
ramifications of introducing modern design
principles in an “informally” traditional neighborhood. But, any new project could impose
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a vast arsenal of “socialized” design standards common to almost
any new suburban tract—three car garages and their front yard
enveloping driveways, massive two story front facades with equally
imposing roofs, abrupt placement on the front setback line and a host
of other design concepts foreign to their neighborhood. The standard
approach would have been to pull the side faces of a building inward
from the side yards to minimize the total front street exposure. The
result usually is a dark central building core and windows that face
into narrow side yards of adjacent homes. The other far less common
approach is the center courtyard concept that pushes the sidewalls
outward toward the neighbors. This creates it own set of issues in
the “welcome department”—who”s behind that wall? We wanted the
project to extend a “friendly hand” toward the neighborhood streetscape; maintain privacy but also dignify its own unique presence. How?
Remove the street-side courtyard wall. The final result is a three
sided front courtyard that floods the center building core with serene
eastern daylight, extends the front yard landscape/ streetscape and
neighborhood vistas deep into the center core of the site and cleverly
separates the driveway and garage wing from the living space wing.
The opposite rear “courtyard” is broader, less private and reaches toward the bright southern daylight and funnels Sacramento’s summer
evening breezes deep into the home. This center open courtyard idea
was provoked by a tight site and inspired a dramatic new layout and
design concept to emerge.
DESIGN
SOLUTION
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