A responsive family home provides a tranquil refuge

The family from Fremont, Calif., had a choice: Buy an existing home that would need updates or build a new one tailored to their needs and lifestyle. The couple decided to build. They found an infill lot with an unusual shape but a perfect location in a vibrant neighborhood with good schools. Their next move was to hire architect Mahya Salehi, AIA, founder of the eponymously named studio.

Here’s how Salehi made the family’s dream home come true.

Letting in the light

The lot has a long driveway that snakes between two neighboring homes and down a slope to the main site. With these confines, finding natural light was the first challenge the location presented. A shadow study led to a daylighting strategy that includes the following features: 

• South-facing courtyard: This outdoor space carved into the side of the home has gliding patio doors and floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides, which allows it to light multiple rooms.
• Window wall: Positioned at the back of the home where the floor plan opens up, this configuration lets light into the great room and is complemented by light coming from the adjacent courtyard.
• A double-height stairwell: This vertical volume acts as a light well, beaming light from the skylights into the center of the home.
• Floor-to-ceiling glass: Picture windows and gliding patio doors of a consistent height are throughout the home.

Conquering the slope

The city’s height restriction was the second challenge. To work around the two-story limitation, Salehi used the sloping site to her advantage. She integrated the basement level into the hillside and positioned the second and third stories so there are never more than two overlapping at once. This resulted in three finished levels, comprised of 4,800 square feet.

The split-level approach accommodates the family’s complex requirements: two home offices and an in-law suite that can house relatives for extended stays. It also left room for lots of indoor-outdoor living. The architect converted additional space in various locations into decks, including a massive one off the primary suite. 

Playing with layout

Salehi has helped many clients fix problems resulting from what she calls an almost “reckless” embrace of open concept floor plans. She’s well acquainted with the acoustic issues, inefficiency, and discomfort that can result from removing all walls, so she guided her clients carefully in balancing open and defined spaces throughout their home. “There’s a hybrid scenario where you maintain openness, whether visually or through proximity, while still having rooms that feel like different spaces,” she says.

A degree of openness helps natural light penetrate deep into the interior. This is key to the daylighting strategy at the back of the home, where a window wall makes up one side of the great room. In this area, the kitchen, breakfast nook, and family room are located in one space that is the heart of the home. Housing multiple functions in this great room fosters an opportunity for connection, something fundamental to family life. The children might be doing homework or craft projects in the breakfast nook while their parents cook dinner, but everyone is close one another. 

The rest of the main level is devoted to more defined spaces: a peaceful home office, a private in-law suite, and formal living and dining rooms. The latter two spaces are key to the family’s lifestyle because their home is often the site of large group gatherings. 

The architect’s hybrid approach of creating both family-focused public spaces and guest-oriented formal spaces maximizes functionality and spatial efficiency. The long, narrow lot could have resulted in a corridor-like home, but Salehi’s thoughtful plan allowed her to divide it in a way that’s more human in scale and still “fits many unique experiences within the same level,” as she puts it. 

Staying on budget

Construction of the home started during the pandemic, complicating the planning and increasing the cost of the materials and labor, so Salehi had to get creative. Instead of panels for the exterior, she elevated everyday stucco with a unique raking technique. Using stucco spoke to local influences, and it was feasible and cost-effective thanks to the deep knowledge of area pros.

Salehi also made smart choices with her window and door specifications. She opted for fixed windows in high spots where they wouldn’t be operable. In places where there was a door, she added floor-to-ceiling windows rather than more operable doors than were needed. The window wall only features one operable window, above the sink, because part of the configuration includes an Andersen 100 Series gliding patio door, which lets in all the fresh air the family needs.

In the dining room—a space where people usually sit down—she skipped the floor-to-ceiling windows because they wouldn’t have been fully appreciated by seated people. She specified windows and doors from Andersen’s 100 Series product line. Part of the reason she was able to mix and match different window types so easily is because of the modular design of the product line. Sight lines and setbacks match across the entire series. 

Salehi’s success in designing this home is rooted in what she describes as a responsive approach—responding to the clients’ needs, of course, but also to the local zoning requirements and local environment. She also leveraged the knowledge of the building pros in her community. “The [home] starts to tell you what it wants to be,” she says. “You can take limitations and actually make them the concept of the project.”

Now when her clients leave their busy Silicon Valley jobs and return home, it’s to a tranquil hideaway that’s exactly right for their family.

Find out more about Andersen’s 100 Series windows and doors and explore more resources that make specifying easy.

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