Diamond Residence

San Francisco, California

Interior Design: Torbit Studio

The complete renovation of an existing house on a corner lot in Noe Valley required a creative approach to maximize outdoor space while also developing enduring and appropriately scaled material strategies. 

The landscape architect advised and coordinated with the architectural designer and the interior designer on the selection of new materials cladding the facade of the house. The material choices, particularly the use of untreated redwood, were inspired by the building architecture of Sea Ranch. Redwood, a local material, is enduring and weathers elegantly, requiring no treatment. Local fabricators were engaged to build the custom steel elements of the boundary walls, gates, and a little free library.

A redwood deck with terraced seating provides places to gather along the edges of the main garden. The horizontal surfaces of the deck contrast with the tall black vertical walls of burned and brushed western red cedar that provide privacy on two sides. A custom gate opening to the street was carefully designed to be visually integrated into the nine foot high wall separating the garden from the city sidewalk. The third side of the garden is buffered by the existing garage, newly clad in earth toned brick. Although not constructed, in the design, this wall is planted with vines trained on a stainless steel wire trellis and the garage is retrofitted to support a green roof visible from the main house. The garden plantings specified in the CDs were not installed due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the project. 

The front entry of the house was redesigned to create a generous porch, bounded by the same burned and brushed western red cedar walls as the main garden, with a custom steel gate providing access to the street. A redwood roof deck provides outstanding views of the city. A little free library, inspired by the work of Barbara Stauffacher Solomon at Sea Ranch, graces the edge of the drive.