Tour the Wavelet House, a light-filled California family home that ripples with drama

We’ve previously encountered the work of Anne Fougeron at Fougeron Architects via the Suspension House, a striking contemporary structure designed to span a creek in the Californian hills. This new project, the Wavelet House, brings the San Francisco-based practice back to level ground, but the design approach is no less dramatic.

Inside the Wavelet House, beneath its bold roofscape

The Wavelet House is set on a narrow lot in a suburban context in Northern California, in amongst a diverse selection of different housing types, from stock pitched roofs to the midcentury stylings of the low-slung houses built by pioneering local developer Joseph Eichler. Fougeron describes the Wavelet House as ‘a reconsideration of the area’s architectural precedent’. Although it’s set across three storeys, the new house combines a ‘traditional’ midcentury-style horizontal façade with a glazed rear. The plan is arranged around patios and courtyards, preserving privacy and creating an intimate series of spaces.

Privacy is also established from the outset with a street façade and entrance set behind metal and wooden slats, beneath the oversailing canopy of the aluminium fins of the roof structure. This entrance courtyard, which adjoins the separate garage entrance, leads straight into the house’s primary axis, with a long view down to the living room and garden. To the right is the two-storey library, described by the architects as the ‘locus of the home’, flanked by two of the three sunken courtyards.

A guest suite and utility space also exist on this level, kept separate from the primary living spaces, all of which open out onto the garden and pool area. A generous basement houses another guest bedroom, alongside a music room, den and storage, with light brought down through the three sunken courtyards.

Upstairs, there are three more bedrooms, including the expansive primary bedroom with ensuite bathroom and generous dressing rooms. An enclosed terrace is also included, while the windows overlook the garden and pool. The rear façade has a wraparound curtain wall of glass and steel that runs the full three-storey height of the building where it plunges into the rearmost courtyard. The roofscape itself is angular and asymmetric, like a series of wave forms rippling across the length of the house.

‘Part of the inspiration for this unique structure emerged from the constraints of the local planning department, which prefers stepped-in roofs that resemble a wedding cake,’ the architects explain. Instead, the team created an umbrella-like structure that evokes the traditional pitched roof without compromising on a dynamic aesthetic approach. This array of angles is mirrored by the aluminium fins that shade the east façade. Inside, the sculptural quality of the roof is preserved, and no light fixtures are inserted into the ceilings.

Where the roof overhangs the main patio and primary bedroom, the material is perforated for visual and physical lightness. All around the perimeter are retractable glass doors, giving huge flexibility on airflow and ventilation, in turn reducing the need to use climate control. Lighting throughout is via high-efficiency LEDs and the entire house is wired for smart house controls. The garden features low-water use native plants for screening and there’s also an on-site stormwater management system.

The Wavelet House maximises natural light despite the relatively tight arrangement of suburban plots. The wraparound façade and roof provide privacy without compromising on light and fresh air, creating a low-energy family home with a plethora of spaces, angles and aspects for a more dynamic and interesting day to day life.

Fougeron.com, @FougeronArch