The clients – a multigenerational family with strong business and cultural ties to their native Korea – approached the design team to conceive “a Californian home with a Korean heart”.
This brief involved a deep dive into Korean design principles and traditions and, “the client really educated us on the meaning of the modern Korean house.” Many of the biophilic tendencies they uncovered are aligned with Californian vernacular traditions, culminating in a project that is both conceptually unique and contextually relevant.
Siting the home within the meadow was complex and our response is defined by a Z-shaped form which follows the contours of the land, reaching out in some places and yielding in others. The gently sloping topography and dense oak canopies work together to conceal the residence from passers-by, and the weathering steel and cedar cladding approximates the colors of the natural environment, further dissolving the boundaries between built form and landscape.
