It's safe to say that the San Francisco Planning Commission never envisioned a bay window like the ones architect Anne Fougeron created for the Flip House. The city's residential code allows windows to project out to 3 feet, encouraging architects to retain the form of San Francisco's traditional bay windows. When she was called upon to do a major renovation to a 1930s rowhouse in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, Fougeron figured out how to make the code work to her advantage. 'We wanted to maximize that downtown view to the north, which the clients [a couple with two young children] were obsessed with,' she says.
The back facade of the dwelling is now completely transparent: three vertical strips of glazing, bonded to their frames on-site, angle out to seize the view, particularly to the north. To get the full panorama, you go to the end of the living area and look over a glass balustrade that protects you from a 2'-foot gap between the floor and the facade. Here you can not only survey the city but gaze down to the guest suite below. The facade seems to float off the back of the house'a daring form of perpetual scaffolding.
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