Contemporary Balance
Architect Steven Ehrlich imbues a traditional
Palo Alto neighborhood with an utterly modern aesthetic—very
carefully
The owners of this modernist house in Palo
Alto had been living in a traditional home for 15 years, so when
they had the opportunity to custom-build, they knew they wanted
a more contemporary style. They also knew exactly what type of
architect they wanted to work with. “We’d always
admired 20th-century modern, and we looked at the work of many
architects,” one of the owners says. “We wanted someone
on the West Coast. We also wanted a firm big enough to get the
job done but small enough to work with the principal. We met
Steven [Ehrlich], and we immediately hit it off.” That
collaboration earned the house a merit award from the American
Institute of Architects, East Bay, for its well-planned design.
“Steven’s approach is to start by surveying you to
determine functionality,” the owner says. “He asks
questions like, what you do when you get up in the morning and
where do you eat breakfast. When do you entertain? Do you entertain
large or small groups?” The couple has an 11-year-old daughter,
whom Ehrlich also took into consideration.
“The owners have very sophisticated taste and were very
interested in early California modern, so we incorporated different
styles,” says Ehrlich, FAIA, who worked closely on the
home with project architect Takashi Yanai. “We wanted a
contextural modern house in a traditional neighborhood, and I
wanted to play off that setting. It’s a white stucco box,
but the wood makes it contextural so it isn’t a biomorphic
building.”
After talking with the family, Ehrlich also learned that
the couple needed space for a number of functions. “They wanted
a family room, a utility room, and lots of storage space,” he
says. “Palo Alto has certain size restrictions. We couldn’t
build an attic, and one way to solve the dilemma was to build
a 3,000-square-foot basement, which evolved as we worked. For
instance, we realized that by putting the laundry in the basement,
it didn’t chew up valuable living space. We also added
a recreation area, an exercise area, and 600 [additional] feet.”
Ehrlich used concrete as a primary material throughout
the house, most prominently at the entry, which is flanked
by an axial concrete wall that continues inside to become
the north-south spine of the house. “It expresses the beauty of concrete, which
has a power and primal strength,” Ehrlich says. The concrete
is 30 inches thick and was cast in place. “When you think
of concrete, you think of sidewalks, which are rough,” the
owner adds. “But cast it this way and the texture is smooth.
Once you feel how silky it is, you’ll never think of concrete
in the same way.”
Ehrlich balanced the coolness of the concrete with the
warmth of mahogany
trim and paneled mahogany walls. Floors are walnut or a
soft Portuguese stone. Glass is also key to the design—a glass
bridge links second-floor bedrooms, while glass roof extensions
form a canopy of shade over the yard. Stairs are stainless steel.
Ehrlich also employed Rheinezink, a new silvery material from
Germany that doesn’t rust but ages to a beautiful patina. “It
softly reflects the light but isn’t as harsh as stainless
steel.”
One of Ehrlich’s signature styles—developed from
time living in Africa—is maximizing the indoor-outdoor
relationship. He carried this connection throughout the house
by organizing the main rooms in a pinwheel design, which allows
each room to open onto its own private terrace. “The house
is very site specific, so you go in and out through the same
plane,” the owner says. One courtyard was built around
a pair of cedar trees already on the property. “We had
no obligation to keep the trees, but it was hard to [think of
letting] them go. Now I sit in my office and look out to the
terrace, and the trees make the house feel more connected to
its surroundings.”
While no single room is the homeowners’ favorite,
they admit that they spend a lot of time in the family room and
kitchen. Since the husband works in high tech, one special touch
was dropping the family room ceiling 12 inches and folding it
around the fireplace to conceal a state-of-the-art home theater
system and speakers. The wife collects ceramics, which led to
display niches and curves in the walls. “We worked with
an East Coast designer, and he and my wife scoured Boston and
New York to find the right midcentury pieces that would
work with this design,” the
husband says. “No Italian pieces here. This
house calls for the clean, minimalist look of Northern
Europe.”
|
