Privacy Marries Transparency in This Updated Eichler Design

Privacy Marries Transparency in This Updated Eichler Design Project Images

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Scott Hargis

The fin-style fence reduces but doesn't block visibility between... The fin-style fence reduces but doesn't block visibility between inside the house and outside.

September 2, 2014

Project Details

Project Name: Privacy Marries Transparency in This Updated Eichler Design
Location: San Rafael Calif.
Architect: building Lab
Project Types: Single Family
Project Scope: Renovation/Remodel
Project Status: Built
Style: Modern
Team: Contractor: Stephen Shoup
Room or Space: Dining Room
Entryway
Exteriors
Kitchen
Living Room
Outdoor

Project Description

Priorities

• Soften and deepen the relationship between the
house and how it faces the street
• Take down the walls separating the kitchen from
the rooms on either side in such a way that the open-plan concept room that’s produced honors the Eichler design
• Add light to the dining room without
compromising privacy

Solutions

The resulting remodel is an exercise in opacity, ranging from the solid to the transparent, that started at the sidewalk with landscaping that uses shrubbery and a strategically placed tree to reduce but not block visibility to the home. Similarly, a horizontal fence between garden and front wall also limits but doesn’t block the view from the dining room’s new floor-to-ceiling front window. The fence also provides protected new space for architect Stephen Shoup’s small daughter and big dog to play.

The big interior change involved building a kitchen in its existing space but with walkways on either side, thus increasing front-to-back flow. Opacity figured in the kitchen design, too, in the form of a translucent panel covering what would have been open space between the kitchen and the living room behind it.

Finally, building Lab promoted continuity in the newly created open concept rooms by installing a walnut veneer feature wall from one end to the other—a nod to the mahogany plywood originally used in Eichler homes.

Judges’ Comments

The judges appreciated the seemingly simple, minimalist approach used by building Lab; an approach that honors the home’s original architecture. “What’s amazing is they’ve gotten this much mileage out of this,” one judge said.

Products Used

Bathroom plumbing fixtures: Hansgrohe, Cifial
Bathroom cabinets: Ronbow
Countertop: Richlite, Grays Harbor
Dishwasher: Kitchenaide
Floorng: Provenza, Re-Use tile in Fango Sand
HVAC: radiant heat, using a Buderas boiler
Kitchen cabinets: Ikea
Lighting fixtures: Wac, recessed; Vibia, nelson bubble
Oven: Dacor rangetop
Paints/Stains: Benjamin Moore
Refrigerator: Bosch
Roofing: polyurethane foam
Siding: Eichler, Breckenridge thinline
Skylights/roof windows: Velux
Windows: Milgard, thermally broken
Other: American walnut paneling
Other: Daltile for bath
Other: Toro, satellite-controlled drip irrigation

Click to see the 17 other winners in the 2014 Remodeling Design Awards.

Privacy Marries Transparency in This Updated Eichler Design