The 12 best homes in the West
By Daniel Gregory and Peter O. Whiteley, Sunset
Take a peek inside these dream homes, winners of Sunset’s latest Western Home Awards, which celebrate the most exciting examples of residential architecture.
Cave Creek, Ariz.: Up close with nature
It's the ultimate wildlife-viewing platform.
Rising from a rocky outcropping and overlooking a tree-lined creek, this Sonoran Desert home features a sculptural window wall and a cantilevered concrete patio that expand the house toward the water.
Design: Will Bruder + Partners, Phoenix, 602-324-6000
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Lopez Island, Wash.: Simple island living
In details large and small, the design for this family home pays homage to its spectacular setting on a curving bay in the San Juan Islands.
Tall posts lining the entry corridor evoke a sculptural forest and direct the view through the front door to a distant strip of land. Each of the three shed-roofed structures is sited to capture vistas through floor-to-ceiling windows; the first two house the family's common areas, while the bedrooms are tucked into the third and most intimate structure.
Simple materials used throughout — such as a metal-clad fireplace set against a board-formed concrete wall at the end of each wing — keep the focus on the surrounding beauty.
Design: Cutler Anderson Architects, Bainbridge Island, Wash., 206-842-4710
San Francisco: Updating a classic
This 1890s Victorian is proof that a historic restoration can be a perfect fit for a young family's lifestyle.
Before the remodel, the home's confusing floor plan blocked easy access to the rear garden and kept rooms dark and cramped. The architects streamlined the plan to bring daylight and front-to-rear sightlines through the house.
A two-story bookcase of wood and glass borders the new stairway and acts as a light chimney, flooding the parlor with sun. Opposite the bookcase, a daybed (perfect for naps or story time) is tucked into an alcove next to a small woodstove.
The refreshed exterior highlights the home's Victorian character in a clean and unfussy way.
Design: Joshua Aidlin, David Darling and Kent Chiang, Aidlin Darling Design, San Francisco, 415-974-5603
Woodway, Wash.: Maximum exposure
Contemporary lines create playful and creative family spaces in this Seattle-area remodel, which kept most of the original footprint intact. The architects removed interior walls, increased ceiling height and daylight exposure with new clerestory windows in the main living spaces, and improved flow with free-standing screens.
The living room embodies the expansive spirit of the project with a wall of windows that open and a two-sided rock fireplace with a continuous indoor-outdoor concrete hearth. A long, elevated central walkway made of ipe wood forms what the homeowners call the "bongo bay." The musical family uses it as a stage where their two young children and friends can put on performances.
Design: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Seattle, 206-256-0862
Sonoma County, Calif.: Wine-country views
In this wine-country residence, glass on three sides of the main living space turns the vineyard view into a panoramic mural that becomes the dominant feature of the living/dining room.
The simple white and amber-toned wood palette is a subtle backdrop, keeping everything light, airy and outdoor-oriented.
Design: Nick Noyes Architecture,San Francisco, 415-512-9234
Los Angeles: Embracing the outdoors
Charles and Ray Eames' iconic 1949 house in Pacific Palisades, Calif., inspired the airy, industrial feel of this home. Architect Barton Myers calls this project "an elegant warehouse," referring to the structural steel frame that keeps the interior uncluttered and loftlike.
The most innovative elements are the glass-and-aluminum roll-up doors — like you'd see at a gas station — that form the south-facing walls of the living area and kitchen. When open, the walls disappear, fully connecting house and garden.
A band of clerestory windows runs along the northern, neighbor-facing side of the house to provide visual balance and maintain privacy.
Design: Barton Myers Associates,Los Angeles, 310-208-2227
Walden, Colo.: Rocky Mountain high
Proving a cabin can be compact yet majestic at the same time, this house was envisioned as a collection of cozy spaces that could weather tough Colorado winters.
The structure is organized as a series of nested boxes: Outermost is the overhung roof and a stone porch, then the square main floor with a living/dining area and kitchen, and finally the smaller square upper floor with the master bedroom and bath.
The soaring scale of the fireplace and roof complement the panoramic feel of the Rocky Mountain landscape.
Design: Turnbull Griffin Haesloop, San Francisco, 415-441-2300
Kapa'au Area, Big Island, Hawaii: Shelter from the storm
Think of it as the highly attuned response of architecture to its setting: The blustering winds that hit the northern tip of the Big Island of Hawaii helped inspire this home's form.
Built in a U shape with three connected shed-roofed wings, the 3,000-square-foot structure wraps around a sunlit, south-facing courtyard and uses its pitched roofs to shelter the house from wind and sun.
With tall window walls that provide panoramic views, the airy, almost transparent home seems to sit lightly upon an elevated lava foundation that evokes the form of a stone heiau, a platform once used for Hawaiian religious ceremonies. The interior highlights the warm tones of exposed Douglas fir wall framing.
Design: Cutler Anderson Architects, Bainbridge Island, Wash., 206-842-4710
San Francisco: Shipshape city nook
High-quality finishes are packed into a small-scale urban structure with a "less is more" sensibility.
The renovation of this boxlike 1950s home had three goals: to showcase views and increase natural light; to create an entry that provided protection from the elements; and to infuse the interior with a sense of warmth. Now, walls of glass open the public areas to sweeping city views and private areas to garden views.
The reconfigured entry not only shields the front door but also heightens a sense of anticipation upon arrival. And the interior spaces are as streamlined as a yacht, yet they're still inviting, thanks to integrally colored plaster, cherry cabinetry, redwood paneling and refinished oak floors.
Design: Joshua Aidlin, Aidlin Darling Design, San Francisco, 415-974-5603
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Clyde Park, Mont.: View from the vault
Using asphalt shingles, metal siding, recycled lumber and oak flooring, Berkeley–based architecture firm Fernau & Hartman converted an old branch bank into a two-story residence in Clyde Park, Mont.
Built in 1910, the 20- by 50-foot building features an open floor plan with two separate lofts for the bedroom and office areas, a wood-burning stove and a recreation space.
In the backyard, a private "guest house," or Airstream trailer, provides extra room for visitors.
Design: Fernau & HartmanBerkeley, Calif., 510-848-4480
West Hollywood, Calif.: Urban legend
Relocating has never been more appealing thanks to Gardner 1050, a multiunit housing development in Los Angeles.
A central courtyard with a pair of 30-foot-high trellises, cement board cladding and translucent glass panels serves as a dramatic backdrop for the modern, 27,000-square-foot structure designed by Culver City's Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects.
Design: LOHA: Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects, Culver City, Calif., 310-398-0394
Tucson: Retro revival
Tucson architect Rob Paulus transformed this former ice-manufacturing and cold-storage facility, built in the 1920s, into 51 modern one- and two-story condominiums.
The adaptive reuse project features preserved architectural elements including 1,240 tons of concrete, 777 tons of exposed brick and original pumps.
Design: Rob Paulus Architect Ltd. , Tucson, 520-624-9805
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