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2020
VOID HOUSE
ATHERTON, CA

We encountered a house at the end of a quite cul-de-sac, settled amongst the oaks, and organized around a courtyard - all sensible arrangements. Yet there was something sort of odd happening here, a sort of top heaviness, that was evidenced by a facade that was seemingly all roof. On the interior, it turns out this was almost all attic. - largely inaccessible, and highly inefficient. So we began to carve away - subtracting from the solid mass wherever possible and discovering opportunities to re-inhabit the voides. Double negatives become connections - binding unusual program arrangements - the skylight is a window in the closet, for instance, which becomes a light monitor to the entry, blurring the lines between most public and private spaces in the house. With this strategy, it turns out this house already had enough - it just required figuring out what to subtract.








2020








VOID HOUSE








ATHERTON, CA

We encountered a house at the end of a quite cul-de-sac, settled amongst the oaks, and organized around a courtyard - all sensible arrangements. Yet there was something sort of odd happening here, a sort of top heaviness, that was evidenced by a facade that was seemingly all roof. On the interior, it turns out this was almost all attic. - largely inaccessible, and highly inefficient. So we began to carve away - subtracting from the solid mass wherever possible and discovering opportunities to re-inhabit the voides. Double negatives become connections - binding unusual program arrangements - the skylight is a window in the closet, for instance, which becomes a light monitor to the entry, blurring the lines between most public and private spaces in the house. With this strategy, it turns out this house already had enough - it just required figuring out what to subtract.