Atherton, California, USA
With exciting interior spaces, an abundance of natural light throughout, and strong indoor–outdoor connections, Swatt Miers Architects’ new two-story 6,000 square-foot home in Atherton, California, replaces a 2,700 square-foot, one-story 1950s post-and-beam-structure-that-suffered-from low ceilings (7’- 3” at bottom of beams) and dark, claustrophobic interior spaces.
Named the Owyang House, this project has been awarded a 2023 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum for Architecture and Design The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, and a 2023 Future House Award by Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum for Architecture and Design.
The owners, who lived in Hong Kong, had used the home for 30 years as a pied-a-terre when visiting the Bay Area.
In 2014, they embarked on a project to upgrade the home and add a new music studio in the backyard but realized that the original house was just too small for them, with dark and compressed interior spaces – and in 2017 decided to scrap the project and start over with a design for a new home.
The property is a level ½ acre parcel with mature landscaping along all of the property lines.
The town of Atherton has very large setbacks that resulted in a small rectangular buildable area in the center of the parcel – for both the original house and the new house.
To increase the length of the perimeter of the rectangular buildable area, thereby increasing opportunities for bringing in natural light, the buildable area has been carved into a thick “H” shaped plan that runs from a small entry court at the west side to a small Zen Garden at the east side.
The new home is two stories, with a full basement.
Compared to the original house, the ceiling heights have been increased to 10’ for most spaces and 16’ for the living and dining spaces.
The “H” shaped plan divides the home into two wings – at the north and south sides – that are connected at the upper level by a floating bridge.
At the lower level, the bridge compresses the space between the entrance and the dining/living areas, contrasting with and emphasizing the generous heights of the ground floor spaces.
Clerestory glazing at the east and west sides of the bridge allows for natural light to penetrate to the public spaces below – helping to create exciting interior spaces that are unexpectedly illuminated from the bridge above.
The sections have been developed with floor-to-ceiling glass walls to create strong indoor–outdoor connections.
Large horizontal roof extensions on the east, south, and west sides emphasize the connection to the landscape help shade the glass, and limit heat gain.
Project: Owyang House
Architects: Swatt Miers Architects
Lead Architects: Robert Swatt
Design Team: Robert Swatt and Angie Gormas
Client: King and Vivian Owyang
Contractor: Denis Matson General Contractor
Photographers: Tim Griffith, Tim Griffith Photography
