Marin Magazine - SPACES January 2018

To separate the open-plan kitchen from the living areas, the architects created a slender 17-foot-long Calacatta Borghini marble bar that doubles as a buffet table. With a core of steel, it is an engineering marvel: it seems to hover effortlessly above a lower island for the bar sink, and LED lights on the bottom accentuate the illusion of floating.

“At first I thought the bar was too dominant,” the owner admits. She was concerned it would detract from the view from the kitchen, but now that it is all in place, she has embraced the architects’ simplified design based on axial geometries and planes intended to direct the eye toward vistas. From the kitchen she can now see Coit Tower and the Bay Bridge; from the master suite there are postcard views of Alcatraz Island; from the living areas, the Golden Gate Bridge and the expansive bay.

The old windows, which were outdated and thermally inefficient, were laboriously replaced with double-pane systems without changing the visual rhythm outside. “Our doorways are also full height, and a door is not just a door or threshold. It helps to combine spaces because you pass through uninterrupted,” Tamjidi says. Nearly invisible, the doors pocket away or are blind-hinged to look like wall panels when open. With a now-larger foyer that has better sight lines in several directions, the home feels airier and more spacious inside. “By opening things up in this way, we also brought natural light into the darkest areas,” Tamjidi says.

The architects have tried hard to keep the interior architecture understated, so it frames and offsets the commanding view, but there are many subtleties to enjoy.

“Our color palette is very muted but we layer it carefully
with patterns,” Garcia says. “We chose every piece of stone
and made sure that veined marbles create a tracery even in
the shower enclosures. The grain in wood casework also lines
up, especially when it wraps around a corner. We sometimes
ripped down larger pieces to align wood grain and stone
veining perfectly.”
Breaking large wall expanses into three parts also creates a
calming effect, the architects have found, so shower stalls and
vanities in both new bathrooms are divided into three sections.

And the outside view — always a canvas of changing colors — has some counterparts inside as well. Above the dining table, the color of the bay is reflected in a Venetian blown-glass Flow-T chandelier from Wonderglass designed by Nao Tamura, and the leather and upholstered furniture from Dzine, Flexform and B&B Italia have the muted tertiary hues of the Marin hills.

“Rather than arbitrarily painting a wall with a color the owner might tire of, we counted on the color of the wood floors to change and darken in time,” Tamjidi says. “The furniture we selected will stand out like distinct landmarks against that, and their colors can be changed.

“Now, when you enter the living room, the view is the first wow moment,” he adds. “And then, when your eye settles, you really notice the luxurious landscape inside.” n

The powder room, off the gallery/hallway that leads to the master wing, has a gravity-defying Calacatta Borghini marble vanity with a Bolo40 sink by Antonio Lupi and a floor-mounted Mem faucet by Dornbracht.