Project team
- EKVA
- Thomas Story
We experience the home not as distinct environments, but as a singular cohesive space shaped by the place and its hosts. Furniture, landscape, and architecture were conceived together, creating a seamless indoor-outdoor living experience, reflecting the idealized vision of Mediterranean climate living.
Amid Los Altos’ effortless natural beauty, the home turned inward, disconnected from the landscape just beyond its walls. The garden, the trees, the sky, the birds would be equally a part of the house and daily activities as the hallway, kitchen and sitting rooms. Our natural house concept begins at the entry. Instead of tacking a statement piece onto the facade, we pulled green spaces into the footprint of the home, creating a porch carved as a void from the mass. Clad in charred wood, and flanked by billowing desaturated grasses, the darkened entry portal creates the impression that space has been removed from the building and given back to nature. The glazed roof opens to the sky flooding the otherwise shadowed space with natural light. On axis with the entry, a second void, punctuated by a large picture window framing a Japanese maple.
At the center of the home, the kitchen’s vaulted heavy timber structure with a full glass façade faces the garden, framing 200-year-old redwoods and inviting you to walk down the planted steps to the basalt dining patio.
The remaining gathering spaces are connected through generous openings to a shaded outdoor lounge.
Small apparently disconnected spaces were taken as opportunities to creatively introduce daylight and experience the outdoors. The powder room is accessed through a secret door hidden in a paneled wall, proceeding into a dark ebonized wood and noir stone mud room in stark contrast to the sun-bleached powder where the entire ceiling is glazed providing an unobstructed view of the cinematic sky.
- Completed
- 2026
- Price range
- $2m - $3m
- Building style
- Modern
Each of the spaces within the house leads to the backyard whether it be the kitchen, ADU, dining/living room, or bedroom wing via a central playroom. A variety of outdoor spaces, including a lounge deck, outdoor dining and cooking, and a firepit area set within a grove of redwoods, further define the indoor/outdoor procession through a seamless circular path.
Deep, moody transitional moments set the stage for light-filled rooms that open to the garden and sky beyond.
Set between an expansive kitchen and a powder room washed in daylight from above, our little black mudroom is tucked quietly behind a hidden door within a cabinetry wall.
Open the door and the space shifts: custom ebonized oak wall paneling and cabinetry, sultry Noir Saint Laurent marble countertops, and smooth spherical cabinet pulls and coat hooks create a rich, tonal interior moment.
Landing in a sun-drenched monochromatic powder built of travertine and white washed oak paneling. Cabinetry hides within the seams of the wall paneling, which extends up into a full-bleed skylight overhead. A travertine niche carved into the wall holds a minimalist ceramic basin.
A slab of St. Laurent Noir marble, originally selected for the home’s monochromatic black laundry room, became the point of departure for this custom dining table designed in-house by EKVA.
Dark, substantial, and tactile, the table is conceived as both object and anchor. Its softened stone top rests on two broad ebonized oak legs, each routed into a perfect sphere at the base. The result is a 1,000-pound table that appears to hover just above the floor.
The form is bold but not severe. Rounded edges and domed feet give the piece the quiet familiarity of a river stone worn smooth by hand. Within the open floor plan, the table grounds the dining area as the center of the home, a place around which daily movement naturally flows.
Sun-drenched stone palettes bring brightness and warmth to the bathrooms in our new Los Altos home.
In the guest powder, oversized chiseled travertine floor mosaic and fluted travertine slats create a soft, tonal backdrop. We collaborated with our finisher on a custom matte whitewash over plain-sawn white oak for wall paneling and trim, creating monolithic effect with the travertine.
The girl’s hall bath carries the travertine flooring through and pairs it with Marfil limestone, delicately veined in pink and custom cut to align with our square white zellige shower tile. White oak cabinetry and brass fixtures add the final layer of warmth.
Awards
Featured Home
AIA Silicon Valley
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