photos: Matthew Millman This 1100 SF space is a reinvention of an early 1960s unit in one of two semi-circular apartment towers near San Francisco’s Aquatic Park. The existing design ignored the sweeping views and featured the same humdrum features one might have found in a mid-range suburban development from 40 years ago. The clients who bought the unit wanted to transform the apartment into a pied a terre with the feel of a high-end hotel getaway: sleek, exciting, sexy. The apartment would serve as a theater, revealing the spectacular sights of the San Francisco Bay.

Photos by Koichi Torimura

Luc Remond

The living room features twelve-foot by four-foot sheets of high-performance glass on the exterior of the main room are held in place with thermally broken sliding aluminum frames. These can be opened on temperate days, allowing the house to be cooled by cross breezes. Photo: Ben Rahn

Lupe Clemente fotografia

project for arhitect : yankale zenker yzenker@hotmail.com

Photo by Randy O'Rourke A guest house for a contemporary main house.

Photography by Ian Gleadle.

On the first floor, the kitchen and living area (with associate Luigi enjoying the sun) is again linked to a large deck through bi-parting glass doors. Ipe is a common choice for decks, but here, the material flows directly inside, at the same level and using the same details, so deck and interior feel like one large space. Note too that the deck railings, constructed using thin, galvanized steel members, allow the eye to travel right through to the view beyond. On the first floor, the kitchen and living area (with associate Luigi enjoying the sun) is again linked to a large deck through bi-parting glass doors. Ipe is a common choice for decks, but here, the material flows directly inside, at the same level and using the same details, so deck and interior feel like one large space. Note too that the deck railings, constructed using thin, galvanized steel members, allow the eye to travel right through to the view beyond.

The project is laid out as a series of garden rooms. The house, its adjacent grounds, and the site are organized into four simple quadrants for approach, arrival, entertaining and privacy. Each quadrant affords its own special views across the varied landscape. Privacy is modulated by solid white walls, which extend from deep within the house, into the landscape outside. Photo: Ben Rahn