Architecture Is Not “STYLE”
Houses can be more than “style”. Houses can connect and contrast, express and focus, make craft in space and light. Homes can be many more things than architects often let them be.
Project Name: Half Moon Bay House
Studio Name: Duo Dickinson
A 4,600 square foot 3BR home that uses halls, stairs, and an elevator to link and divide 4 distinct places linked by a backlighting stair and invisible elevator:
- A Public entry/living/isolated but axially located dining/all connected by a veranda leading to a walled courtyard claims the high, flat
- A Private garage/backdoor/top lit kitchen/informal eating/family room/TV- fireplace/outdoor room-fire pit with a master suite/secret room and balcony above is the homeowners’ place to
- Guests have a separate lower suite of two bedrooms and bath – with laundry and service
- The perch above all is the office/work station – w/balcony.
The one-acre site has 4 parts too:
- Entry/flag poles/gate/motor court/charging
- A formal courtyard with sound-fountain addressed by a
- A terraced fruit and vegetable garden facing due
-A clean lawn and elaborated fringe gardens laced together with walkways, with vantage points, an invisible natural “auditorium”.
This home has sweep and detail, crisp craft, and weaves in nature into every space. The plan uses axes to connect wells of space. The building employs line and shape, material and color, natural and man-made light, flow and focus. The shape is both centering and ascending, defining and kinetic.
