Sausalito Residence
Sausalito, CA
This new single-family home, located on a steeply sloped site in Sausalito, is private to the street with a reserved front façade, but expansive windows and terraces facing Richardson Bay in the rear give a feeling of light and openness inside. With warm and modern details, elegant in its simplicity, the house responds to the client’s dream of a zen and meditative home. The project includes a rainwater harvesting system (the first system approved for domestic use in California!) and state-of-the-art mechanical systems, all capable of being controlled remotely by a web-based building management system.
This new single-family home is located on a steeply sloped site with panoramic views of Richardson Bay, within walking distance of downtown Sausalito. The client wanted a modern home that appeared modest from outside, respecting the historic context of the neighborhood, but that felt spacious inside, celebrating the spectacular view and creating a meditative experience. The understated front façade makes the house feel unassuming and private to the street, but extensive windows and terraces facing the bay give a feeling of openness inside. With clean lines and a combination of light and dark woods, the house is modern, warm, and zen. It is elegant in its simplicity, sensitive to its neighborhood, and responsive to its site. One planning commissioner described the house as “a jewel box … one of the best gifts to Sausalito that I have seen in my five years on the Commission.”
The home features the first rainwater harvesting system approved for residential interior use in California. The low-pitched copper roof collects rainwater and feeds it into an underground cistern. From the cistern, the water is pumped, filtered, and delivered to the toilets, laundry, and landscape irrigation. In collaboration with Sherwood Design Engineers, 450 architects worked with municipal officials to receive approval for the system, paving the way for more California property owners to adopt large-scale rainwater harvesting systems of their own. The cistern and all of the house’s mechanical processes can be controlled remotely by a web-based building management system.