CCS Architecture designed this modern home for a family of five in Los Altos Hills, California. The clients, both  working parents, wanted a warm and casual, family-friendly dwelling with interiors that would merge with the outdoors. The goal of sustainability was met through the home’s building methods, materials, and energy systems.

Carefully positioned on its one-acre site, the 6,000 square foot residence is broken into three parts separated by two breezeways.  The result is a contemporary compound with well-defined outdoor spaces that are comfortable during hot summer days.  An L-shaped main level plan houses the primary living areas and garage. The second floor bedroom wing, clad in cedar, is a long bar that is rotated in relation to the first floor.  It creates sheltered zones below as well as a pair of roof decks for the four bedrooms. The second floor meets the ground at its north end, forming the pool house.  Between the pool house and the family room, a breezeway frames a view of the property and Silicon Valley. A 4-killowatt photovoltaic solar array on the roof generates about half of the home’s electricity, with additional solar panels that heat all of its water.