Atherton Residence

For this ground-up residential project in storied Atherton, Edmonds + Lee worked with the clients’ brief of creating a family-friendly yet visually sophisticated house that could accommodate both their immediate family on a full-time basis and out-of-town visitors, and within local zoning parameters by building a three-pavilion structure: a two-story main house, a detached garage, and a separate ADU, all centered around a private courtyard. The residence takes some of its programmatic cues from typical Atherton property styles, highlighting a formal arrival court and protecting the internal residential areas from street activity through the careful massing of enclosed volumes, and others from our typical design process which focuses on articulating a deep understanding of our clients’ daily rhythms, interpersonal wants and needs, and the ways in which a house can support a finely-honed lifestyle. Stylistically and architecturally, we emphasized the local vernacular’s combination of easy California living with a high level of material and programmatic sophistication, focusing on creating a seamless flow between inside and outside with the use of large glass expanses, and using organic woods, high-quality limestone, and sensitively textured surfaces to produce a sense of easily luxurious materiality.