An Embraceable View
The Marin County hillside home designed by
Gustave Carlson strikes a balance between modern
pied-À-terre and cozy retreat—while maximizing some
remarkable views
Gustave Carlson’s renovation of a Marin County hillside
tract home grazes the natural landscape with the lightest of
touches. Steel posts and concrete piers hold the cantilevered
house nearly 30 feet above the rolling terrain, while the exterior
colors, cued by the flora of lavender and fescue, pull it into
the embrace of the surrounding hills. From the outside, the architectural
statement is subtle but apt for a weekend retreat that abuts
the open space of a land trust. The owners wanted warmed-up contemporary
styling that did not clamor for attention, and the Berkeley-based
architect delivered.
For this house, though, the larger story takes place on the
inside. The architecture emphasizes
the sweeping view of Tiburon’s port, the bay, and San Francisco.
Even for a region full of beautiful
vistas, this exposure is among the best around. And for the Los
Angeles–based couple who
bought the 1960s-era house, it sealed the deal.
Turning the drab, outdated house, which Carlson describes as
being in “a state of
aesthetic disrepair,” into a contemporary haven was up
to Carlson and Southern California
interior designer Carolyn Lawrence. The two had collaborated
some 10 years earlier in the
design and construction of the same homeowners’ primary
residence in L.A. The reprise was
just as easy for the designer-architect duo—both banned
details of architecture or furnishings
that would interrupt the visual flow to the outdoors, and selected
colors that would pay tribute
to the panorama.
“My goal was to recast the house as a clean and modern
pied-à-terre without turning it into
a white box,” says Carlson. As a weekend home, it didn’t
need more square footage, especially
when enlarging the 30-by-30 footprint would mean running Marin
County’s permit-approval
gauntlet. Instead, Carlson solved the home’s inadequate
circulation by wrapping a deck around
the upper level and enclosing the lower level to create a sleeping
porch for the master suite. The
specter of the white box faded further with the addition of Western
red cedar shingles and
painted fasciae and decking.
On the inside, Carlson stripped the remnants of the 1960s. Out
went a brick-faced
fireplace (including pizza oven and extensive planters), drab
cabinetry, and dated lighting.
That left him with 2,000 square feet of cleared space in which
to realize a spare, well-designed
and well-crafted home showcasing its best feature. He diverted
the flow of the living spaces
toward the view by moving walls, enlarging windows, and expanding
the decks. He also minimized
linear distractions by controlling the placement of structural
features, selecting windows
that don’t divide the light, and installing tempered glass
in the deck rails. Each element helps
frame the vista, and the interior color palette harmonizes the
interaction between indoor and
outdoor worlds.
Carlson’s mantra, “Err on the side of simple,” works
for this getaway home, especially partnered
with his corollary, “Don’t overdesign.” Essential
to the pared-down architecture is extensive
custom cabinetry. The dining and living rooms alone have 36 linear
feet of cabinets as
well as open, cantilevered shelving for display and storage.
The built-ins, which have presence
without bulk, are unembellished except for a minimal reveal of
brushed nickel pulls and a
dramatic espresso-brown finish. Furniture from Christian Liagre,
a line renowned for its sleek
modernity and exquisite detailing, sets a tone of elegant comfort
in the social and private rooms.
Minimalist decorative accents add rich textures and sculptural
drama.
The kitchen, once a closed galley configuration with worn appointments,
is now an open
L-shaped space with an extended peninsula. Where the other
spaces have minimal colors, the
kitchen draws from a broader palette: eggplant cast-concrete
countertops, glass tiles in greens
and lavenders, and custom cabinetry stained red cedar. Even
though the owners, who are uprooted
San Franciscans, come to Tiburon to decompress, the kitchen
has resources for extensive
use and an ambient warmth for family-centered entertaining
with teenage children and assorted
friends.
Carlson’s reimagined box is the perfect weekend hideaway:
a forthright, modern, and userfriendly
haven suitable to its pastoral setting. And that jewel of a vista?
Well, from every spot,
indoors and out, it is the constant embraceable view.
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