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Architects: Jeff Svitak
- Area: 2000 ft²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Onnis Luque
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Manufacturers: All else custom, Fleetwood
Text description provided by the architects. A house and studio nestled into a unique canyon running through the city of San Diego. The canyon created an essence for the house to work around and integrate with. The concept was to diffuse the division between canyon and house, so that the two flow together seamlessly. Instead of a blunt massing object between the street and the canyon, the house is divided into separate massing elements, which allow the canyon to enter into the spaces of the house and studio through a slim courtyard element.
The house is accessed across a floating steel bridge, and through a sliding cedar door that begins the reveal moments and windows into the canyon setting beyond, although limited and controlled. From there the user travels through the various spaces of the house as the canyon unveils itself if full form. The living room space is a cantilevered room floating within the natural elements of the canyon, which opens up completely to the life outside. The circulation flows inside and out, access to the bedrooms is through an outdoor vestibule and then into a soft wood box where trees are the only visual element. The basement has another outdoor private access and is utilized as the architect’s office and studio.
The architectural footprint, while small, is vertically integrated to offer a wide array of living opportunities by complex yet refined geometry and spatial layouts.
