The Owyang House | Atherton - California | 2023

Architects: Swatt Miers Architects
General Contractor: Denis Matson General Contractor
Client: Private
Photographers: Tim Griffith Photographer

The Owyang House is a new two-story 6,000 square foot home in Atherton, California, that replaces a 2,700 square foot, one-story 1950’s post and beam structure that suffered from low ceilings (7’-3” at bottom of beams) and dark, claustrophobic interior spaces. The new home features exciting interior spaces, an abundance of natural light throughout, and strong indoor – outdoor connections.

Design Narrative The original house was built in the 1950’s with post and beam construction, very low ceilings (7’-3” to bottom of beams) and dark interior spaces. The owners, who lived in Hong Kong, had used the home for 30 years as a pied-a-terre when visiting the Bay Area.

In 2014 they embarked on a project to upgrade the home and add a new music studio in the backyard, but realized that the original house was just too small for them, with dark and compressed interior spaces – and in 2017 decided to scrap the project and start over with a design for a new home.The goals for the new design included elegant and spacious interior spaces, with an abundance of natural light, and strong indoor-outdoor connections.

The property is a level ½ acre parcel with mature landscaping along all of the property lines. The town of Atherton has very large setbacks that resulted in a small rectangular buildable area in the center of the parcel – for both the original house and the new house. The design: In order to increase the length of the perimeter of the rectangular buildable area, thereby increasing opportunities for bringing in natural light, the buildable area has been carved into a thick “H” shaped plan that runs from a small entry court at the west side to a small Zen garden at the east side.

The new home is two-stories, with a full basement. Compared to the original house, the ceiling heights have been increased to 10’ for most spaces and 16’ at the living and dining spaces. The south elevation is floor to ceiling glass. The plan has been developed to create exciting, light filled interior spaces. The “H” shaped plan divides the home into two wings – at the north and south sides – that are connected at the upper level by a floating bridge. At the lower level, the bridge compresses the space between the entrance and the dining/living areas, contrasting with and emphasizing the generous heights of the ground floor spaces.

Clerestory glazing at the east and west sides of the bridge allows for natural light to penetrate to the public spaces below – helping to create exciting interior spaces that are unexpectedly illuminated from the bridge above. The sections have been developed with floor to ceiling glass walls to create strong indoor – outdoor connections. Large horizontal roof extensions on the east, south and west sides emphasize the connection to the landscape, and help shade the glass and limit heat-gain.

Since the town counts overhangs over 4’ deep as square footage, the new overhangs have been designed as delicate, painted aluminum trellises, that cast beautiful, ever changing shadows on the surfaces of the home. The Owners now live full-time in the Bay Area and are thrilled with their new home. Impact on the Owners The Owners purchased the property 30 years ago and used the original 1950’s post and beam house on and off as a pied-a-terre when they visited the Bay Area.

In 2017 the Owners decided to make this property their permanent home and realized that the original building did not meet their needs – it was too small, too dark, and had extremely low ceilings throughout. They then decided to embark on a project to create their Bay Area dream house. The Owners love their new home – it is spacious and elegant, with abundant natural light and strong indoor – outdoor connections. They appreciate the transparency of the floor to ceiling glass walls, as well as the solid interior walls that were planned to serve as backdrops for their collections of beautiful paintings and sculpture.

The Owners love art and beauty, and have commented that one of the joys of living in their new home has been watching how natural light changes the perception of the building, as dappled light streams through the metal trellises, casting delicate shadows on the surfaces of the building that change continuously with the time of day and the seasons of the year.
Photographers: Tim Griffith Tim Griffith Photographer