Project Description
PROJECT NARRATIVE: The Keystone Residence was designed and built to foster community and connection, both within for the family living there, but also with the neighboring buildings and people. Given the surrounding fabric of single story California bungalows, the project is scaled to provide the space required by the client while working within the context of the streetscape. The house is a collection of interlocking volumes and sequential spaces. A two story solid white block, set back from the street, shelters the private bedrooms. These rooms open successively to increasingly open and more public living spaces housed within cedar-clad volumes at the front and rear of the house. These spaces continue to open to the exterior, expanding the living area of the house to the rear as well as creating visual connection from the front of the house to the street. The 2,460 square foot home has three bedrooms, three and a half baths, an office, playroom, laundry, and large living/kitchen/dining room which opens to an outdoor dining area (the “ODA”). The architect creatively accommodated requests for an outdoor shower, indoor/outdoor living, and a play space for kids that was part of the formal common areas without being visible. He also identified ways to build the house to code while simultaneously maximizing the livability of the lot. PROGRAMMATIC LAYOUT The house is composed of two programmatically discrete volumes, separating communal and private living spaces. The intersection between the two create a third, semi-public space. Built for a family of four, the efficient plan provides ample indoor and outdoor living spaces, belying the house’s modest footprint. PRIVATE Centered on the site, the first volume is a two-story structure containing private residential quarters. Each bedroom is positioned so that the occupant is granted a view to the backyard and garden. An outdoor shower and open deck on the ground floor allows the occupants of the master suite a sense of living outdoors. PUBLIC Facing the street, the second volume houses the public domain including the living room, kitchen, and dining room. A continuous path runs straight through the house connecting the sidewalk to the backyard, connecting the interior heart of the home to an outdoor dining area and fire pit. Covered porches projecting from both ends of the house handle the transition between indoors to outdoors. The inhabitants experience this transition as they step down onto the concrete steps greeting them at each entrance of the house. SEMI-PUBLIC The intersection of the public and private domain creates a third volume, a semi-public domain for circulation and communal services, including a guest bathroom, laundry facilities, and an open play area for children. It’s position within the house serves as a connective buffer between the public and private spaces.