California round house is tucked away in Los Altos Hills
Feldman Architecture unveils the redesign of a classic 1960s round house, a circular home surrounded by foliage in Los Altos Hills, California
![Side view of Round House by Feldman architecture](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JtEE2pChs6FuhuHYivDJzG-415-80.jpg)
Perched idyllically on a leafy slope in California's Los Altos Hills, Round House is a 1960s family home that has been recently redesigned by San Francisco studio Feldman Architecture. As its name suggests, this is a circular home – but one that does not feel harsh and parachuted into its green environs; rather, its soft curves and timber cladding make it a pleasing addition to its verdant and sparely built, hilly context. At the same time, the design effortlessly extends out to the landscape, bringing the views in at every turn.
‘The aptly named Round House is a geometrically unique structure; one of a few similarly shaped homes built in California in the 1960s,’ say the architects. ‘The clients fell in love with this quirky circular house and initially planned a modest remodel. Soon after moving in, the pair recognised the inefficiencies of their new home – low window eaves curiously obstructed the otherwise spectacular views, spurring their desire to open and modernise the design. Our team set out to craft a respectful enrichment of the home’s original form, focusing on a site-sensitive response to the steep, challenging plot.'
The transformation included the closing of an original central, open-air courtyard into a distinctive circular kitchen – a centrepiece of the new design – as the client is a family of food enthusiasts. A skylight above the round kitchen island lets daylight flood the space.
Around this both literal and figurative heart of the home, all the other rooms fan out – from an open-plan living space that spills out to a large terrace for al fresco dining, to Round House’s four en suite bedrooms. A decked walkway that cantilevers out over the mature trees encircles the home, connecting the different rooms from the outside and offering long views, including some of the South Bay beyond the city.
While the house is fit for the 21st century and contains all mod-cons, the architects opted for a fairly streamlined, minimalist architecture aesthetic of light tones in a restricted palette of colours and materials. Clean white walls inside are matched by darker joinery and Japanese-style shou sugi ban charred wood siding externally. Due to the Round House's geometry, many things that would normally have been off-the-shelf products needed a bespoke approach. But that was an exciting challenge, the architects explain: ‘Most conventional solutions favour straight geometry, which made for a refreshing intervention that is an honest response to the constraints of this unique project.'
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
IM Pei's Everson Museum of Art gets a modern makeover
The East Wing of the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY has been given a contemporary refresh by emerging Los Angeles studio MILLIØNS
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Black Modernism’s lesser-known, at-risk architecture gems gain a lifeline
Conserving Black Modernism announces vital funding to save and preserve overlooked and endangered buildings by African American architects and designers
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Step into the Blanton Museum of Art's reimagined public realm by Snøhetta in Austin
Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas is completed and reveals its reimagined public realm and plaza designed by Snøhetta
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This New York Townhouse renovation is a lesson in contemporary minimalism
TenBerke’s carefully considered New York townhouse is the reimagining of a century-old Manhattan structure that reframes vertical living
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Visit The Frost House, a lesser-known modernist architecture marvel in Michigan City
The Frost House is a lesser-known midcentury architecture gem in Michigan City, Indiana; we took the tour as the property goes on the market
By Audrey Henderson Published
-
Broadway designer Scott Pask’s Arizona retreat is a scene-stealing discovery
Scott Pask invites us inside his Arizona retreat, nestled in the foothills overlooking Tucson – a place to reboot, recharge and commune with nature
By Michael Webb Published
-
Upstate New York retreat Ridge House evokes land art
Ridge House in upstate New York, the work of Brooklyn-based studio Worrell Yeung, is at one with the surrounding countryside
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Rafael de Cárdenas’ first ground-up project is a forever home with waterfront views and hidden treasures
Rafael de Cárdenas reveals his latest completed project in the Pacific Northwest, a family home of calming spaces that bleed the outside in, and ten years in the making
By Ellie Stathaki Published