TIGERTAIL Brentwood, California

Project Details

Project Description

The 3,200 sq.ft.residence is located in the Crestwood Hills neighborhood of Brentwood, California, a postwar development of modest mid-century homes.The project consists of a new two-story building integrated with,and complementing the existing residence. The new architecture builds upon the original intentions of A. Quincy Jones and the other pioneers of this progressive development. The design response is driven by pragmatic aspects of the topography and more complex 3D manipulations of form. These are merged to create an architecture that reflects and respects, but does not mimic the site.

The design and peculiar geometry of the second story volume are a result of the various site conditions and building setback regulations. Openings to the views and the need for solid walls for shear and privacy are additional factors that define the building envelope.

The residence is low and unassuming at the street respecting the scale of the neighboring homes. The homes open to the courtyard with glazed walls for transparency and to eliminate the demarcation between the interior and exterior spaces. A series of bent steel moment frames, expressed in the new architecture, straddle the existing one-story structure. The folded planes of the walls and roof, sheathed with interlocking metal panels, are an extension of the rolling topography of the hillside site. The language of folded surfaces comprises the exterior building form and defines the interior. The wood-clad interior dematerializes the separations between walls, ceiling and floor.