This Bay Area Renovation Carves Away Space to Reveal a Luminous Family Home
In Atherton, California, the aptly named Void House carefully subtracts space—and reduces the existing footprint—in this unconventional transformation.
In Atherton, California, the aptly named Void House carefully subtracts space—and reduces the existing footprint—in this unconventional transformation.
When Mark and Tamara Murray purchased a home for their family in Atherton, California, south of San Francisco, they were prepared to take on a project. "We bought the house knowing we wanted to renovate it," recalls Tamara. The 1948 home represented a hodgepodge of architectural influences, with a mixture of Tudor and Mediterranean elements, and a ranch-style floor plan which wrapped around a central courtyard.
Although the original layout largely made sense, the low ceilings and choppy spatial divisions inhibited cohesion and flow, according to homeowner Tamara Murray. "The biggest areas of the home that were not working were the segmented family, kitchen, and dining rooms," she says. "We really wanted to be able to move seamlessly between the rooms."
Photo by Mikiko Kikuyama
Surrounded by mature trees, the original windows and doors were expanded to maximize the potential of the wooded lot. "We just knew we could make those doors and windows bigger, and bring the beautiful outside in," recalls Tamara.
Photo by Mikiko Kikuyama
When the time came to renovate, the couple didn’t hesitate to turn to Dan Spiegel and Meg Aihara of San Francisco-based architecture firm SAW to reimagine the home. Longtime friends, Tamara and Spiegel were college classmates, and had even collaborated on a previous project. The unusual challenge of the Atherton renovation was that there was already enough space—it was just poorly utilized. The home seemed to be swallowed underneath a massive roof—all inaccessible attic space—making the structure feel top-heavy. "This made the ceiling heights low and a lot of the spaces dark," recalls Spiegel. "We looked for opportunities to cut away at the unused space—adding lightwells and skylights, stitching between rooms to create continuity, and expanding windows to integrate the landscape."
Once an inaccessible attic (and essentially "dead space"), soaring ceilings and striking angular lines are now a focal point, geometrically integrated through vertical protrusions and light-funneling skylights.
Photo by Mikiko Kikuyama
See the full story on Dwell.com: This Bay Area Renovation Carves Away Space to Reveal a Luminous Family Home
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