Berkeley, California is home to the University of California, but lots of the hills which define the community will also be the setting for single-family homes taking advantage of the stunning views of the San Francisco Bay to the west. This is the case with this home located in the Berkeley Hills. The aptly called Berkeley Courtyard House opens up into the bay perspectives while also creating an intimate outdoor atmosphere of its own. Let’s take a tour of the home, outside and inside, to find the attributes which make it one with its immediate and distant website.
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WA Design Architects
Designed by local architect David S. Wilson of WA Design for a newly retired couple from the East Coast, the home is separated into three buildings linked by walkways. The solution to the house is from the path to the west, up the driveway which finishes in one of the constructions: a three-car garage with a studio on the second floor. (In this picture the garage is out of sight, behind us and to the left.) Here we see the other two buildings as we glance westward: On the left are the living places, and on the right would be the sleeping rooms.
WA Design Architects
In this photo we’re looking to the north and also the building that houses the bedrooms in addition to a library. Next into the glazed walkway is a stair which bumps out into the courtyard. Both of these buildings confront each other with metal facades, making what Wilson calls a”zinc canyon.” Within this space are two pools, or what could be viewed as a long pool divide from the walkway. The long pool points west and reinforces a connection with the distant waterway.
WA Design Architects
A closeup of this long water attribute from the dwelling pavilion makes its westward directionality clear. It also suggests how the pool divides this section of the courtyard into 2, and how the stilts supporting the roof are still an important part of the plan, as we will see. The simple paving, vertical to the pool, links the two buildings as the linear pool divides them.
WA Design Architects
Looking northeast from the driveway, we could observe how the home opens up itself into the west with larger expanses of glass along with a wraparound balcony in the master bedroom. Roof extensions cut down on the summer sun, but they also function — together with the skinny columns, particularly — to make a porous framework which makes the separation between indoor and outdoor space less different. These extensions”provide protected exterior circulation and ample surface space to the extensive photo-voltaic arrays that power the home,” says Wilson.
WA Design Architects
Looking straight east, we could see how the landscape between the road and the house is terraced to stick to the slope. The native grasses are a wonderful comparison with the Corten steel trimming, the swimming pool which gets taller since it goes to the west, as well as the zinc-and-stucco-clad structures. Notice how the angle of this column at left is echoed in the north west wall of the building and the component of the dwelling pavilion across the way.
WA Design Architects
Our move inside the home starts in front door, on the south side of the living pavilion, adjacent to the driveway. A zinc door with custom cutouts is at right, leading to the outdoor walkway linked with the garage. Both this door and the entry door hint in the zinc on the courtyard side of the home. Here the home is covered with stucco, though the concrete wall at right helps merge outside and inside. Notice the little bit of stair visible in the top left corner.
WA Design Architects
Now looking back at the entry, 180 degrees from the preceding photo, the stair which we glanced from exterior sits prominently alongside a gray wall with various cutouts. This stair leads to the sole upstairs space from the living pavilion, a loft that sits over the entry and looks towards the courtyard. The entry and stair sit in the middle of the plan, dividing it into living/dining (right) and kitchen/service (left).
WA Design Architects
Within this perspective of the stairs across the courtyard, we can observe the walkway which leads back into the living pavilion, an undulating pattern in the ground. This photo is somewhat misleading, since it’s white and black, however, the stair is similar to the entry stair in the way it’s detailed: timber treads, open risers, steel stringers.
WA Design Architects
Back in the living pavilion, here we’re looking north from the kitchen. The assortment of glazing and windows is exceptional: large windows with both clear and frosted glass, along with a lanky window which divides itself into a skylight. This generates catchy cabinetwork, but Wilson thoughtfully began the chimney in the height of their counters.
WA Design Architects
This viewpoint of the kitchen into the east shows a double-door leading into the courtyard that is shaped by the living pavilion and the garage. In the foreground is a lanky column which connects the interior together with the overhangs and arrangement out. This single pillar is but one element of this structure of the home, which extends into the rings of Corten planters, courtyard paving, not to mention the columns.
WA Design Architects
Our very last shot of the home is the master bath, which displays the same sophistication of this kitchen. A lanky window wrap into a skylight can be present here. These touches link the spaces, though they are found in separate structures.
Wilson has designed a home that is an impressive assemblage that is cohesive in its own treatment of components both large and little.
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