VERTICAL REACH
ANGLE HOUSE
For the sky seekers
DAVIS, CALIFORNIA
In this project, my academic family clients wished to turn their traditional suburban home into a harmonious, sanctuary-inspired space with a core great room connected to the outdoors. To bring sunlight and sky into the house, I added a series of double-height walls that jut skyward, generating a dramatic roofline. Strategically positioned at the house’s rear to maintain a conventional appearance from the street, the walls’ clerestory windows, placed horizontally at the wall tops, create a light-filled, spacious interior in the heart of the home.
A new, expansive, great room combines kitchen, dining, and living areas in one continuous space. The room connects to the surrounding gardens through a floor-to-ceiling glass bay window that floats in the greenery, blurring the boundaries between inside and out.
MATERIALS
Clerestory windows
Floor-to-ceiling bay window
Redwood-clad atrium with sliding doors
Cherry wood floors
Redwood-clad ceiling
Quarter-sawn wood kitchen counter
T1-11 plywood exterior cladding with trim at seams
The interior feels warm and organic, like an extension of the garden, with cherry wood floors complemented by a curved sectional sofa in a rich red hue.
On the exterior, T1-11 plywood cladding, a standard building component, is elevated through trim details at panel junctions and a dark brown stain, evoking the rustic elegance of a Japanese tea house.
The project celebrates wood’s rhythms and patterns, including the quarter-sawn kitchen counter cladding and the quiet but mighty strength of the redwood ceiling.
An outdoor redwood deck is a transitional zone between the great room and the gardens.
The deck functions like an atrium, encouraging a natural flow between environments and extending the living area beyond the home's walls.
Photos by Ed Asmus