New Los Altos Home: Los Altos California

SITUATION
The owners of this property in Los Altos, California desired to take down the existing residence and design a completely new house to replace it. The existing house was a one story ranch house in a neighborhood dominated by one story houses. The owners wanted to build a new two story house to keep the yard as big as possible for their two young children. New two story homes were very controversial in the neighborhood. We consulted with the Planning Department early in the process to make sure we understood the neighborhood concerns and the Planning Department guidelines.

ACTION
We designed the second floor of the new house to be 'buried' under the roof as much as possible when viewed from the front of the house. This gave the house a more horizontal appearance. The Planning Department gave us approval in the first public hearing even with some neighborhood opposition present. The rear of the new home opens up the the large rear garden and the large windows let in plenty of natural light. All of the bedrooms were located on the second floor at the request of the owner yet we were able to minimize the impact of the amount of area as viewed from the street. We also located all of the main day to day living areas at the rear of the house in a very large connected open space which opens to the year garden.

RESULT
We were able to create an architectural solution to that worked for the owners and the community. The new house is very open and spacious but preserves the exterior open space.

CREDITS

General Contractor:
R. J. Perez Construction, Inc.
Cupertino, CA

Photographer:
John Todd
Cupertino, CA

DOWNLOADS
New Los Altos Home PDF