ABOVE NOE VALLEY

I met these clients at a special time in their relationship.  They had just become pregnant with their first child. They had just purchased a San Francisco home looking down into Noe Valley and out to the Bay.  But the house was divorced from its sunny rear yard set 25 feet below. The living, dining and kitchen area was 3 floors above the yard, which meant that their future children would have have no direct access to the outside in which to play.  

 

We evolved a large deck that emerges from main living level and from which winding stairs descend to the yard. The parents wanted a coffee, cocktail get away at the top of the house.  We set that atop a spiral stairs rising slightly above the roof. Later with the advent of WiFi, laptop work and homework would go up there as well.  

 

In the process, we opened up the rooms of the house, and created large glass areas by which to take in the view yet be shaded by overhead trellis and new deck work. Just as first child started walking, they moved into their completed home.