ABSTRACT
The house’s spatial quality derives from an effort to synthesize the specificity of the context with the particularities of the client’s program brief: a private residence and home office for a biofeedback consulting practice. The site is located on the ridge between the Marin Headlands and the San Francisco Bay. It occupies a high point on the ridge from which it has access to 270-degree views. The panorama that wraps the house differs significantly on each side, and the perception and experience of the place changes as one turns and moves. To the east is San Francisco Bay, to the south the Golden Gate Bridge, to the west the Pacific Ocean, and to the north, Mount Tamalpias. While a place can alter dramatically in different seasons, the span of a few hours at this site can effect an incredibly quick and dynamic transformation as fog rolls in from the Pacific Ocean and sweeps up the hillsides. The fog often blankets the surrounding lower landscape, making the site an island in the clouds-a mass through which only the Golden Gate Bridge’s towers protrude, until they too are finally engulfed in fog. This fog has a tangible presence, and it is possible to see it moving across objects in the landscape similar to the way clouds appear from an airplane. This movement offers the clearest and most physical manifestation of the site’s phenomenal and fluctuating characteristics.
