The residential architecture of Atherton, California, is nothing if not eclectic. Peeking out from behind the town’s ubiquitous fences are modernist glass boxes, French chateaux, and Italianate villas. But a recently finished house in this leafy Silicon Valley suburb, by San Francisco–based architect Craig Steely, defies stylistic categorization. The enigmatic one-story structure on a long and skinny lot is defined by a sinuous, almost windowless wall clad in vertical cedar planks. Although about half of the 5,900 square feet behind the curving enclosure are sheltered under flat roofs, the architect has dubbed the residence the Roofless House, since the remaining space is devoted to courtyards and is open to the sky.
Steely’s aim was to create an “escape pod” for his software-engineer client, who hoped to take advantage of the temperate Bay Area climate through as much outdoor area as possible, but who also wanted to limit her views of the surrounding architectural hodgepodge. The solution was to replace the typical Atherton perimeter fence with the 14-foot-tall wood wall, but pull it well inside the boundaries of the half-acre property.
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