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View from stairwell toward dining room.
to maximize views and light with large picture windows, creating “We wanted a contrast between high and low spaces, and we
a double-height space that unifies the house both literally and weren’t worried about light given all the glass we introduced to
figuratively. The kitchen and den now open up to this space. The the renovated space,” Loosle-Ortega explained. “We thought the
main entrance is on axis with the fireplace, which is now framed black would enrich the materials, particularly the ash paneling, and
by large glass panels that provide views of the landscape beyond.” set apart the white kitchen cabinetry. An all-white ceiling was too
The staircase in the entry hall even employs open risers so as to obvious, and would have dumbed down the kitchen and entry areas.”
not interrupt this view. The dark ceiling, in contrast, “dresses them up and is unexpected.
“A collage of materials and textures ties together the new The clients were unsure—and nervous—but they trusted us, and
spaces into one cohesive composition,” Loosle-Ortega continued. now they love it.”
“A wood wall of custom-stained ash wraps around the kitchen and Many houses built in recent decades employ double-height
library, creating a cross-axis and seamlessly joining adjacent rooms.” entries or living rooms that are supposed to generate an air of
Doors hidden in the ash wall lead to the pantry, a laundry and grandeur, but succeed only in evoking a sense of boxy, useless
mud room, and the powder room. “The family room’s Macassar emptiness. KUBE’s design for the new living room avoids this
ebony storage wall and [fiber-cement board]-clad chimney serve as problem by articulating the space with changes in materials and
vertical focal points within the composition, while adding warmth the insertion of a new second-floor balcony. Although the balcony
and texture at the heart of the home. A continuous black ceiling takes up some of the room’s volume, it actually makes the space
frames the spaces, creating a horizontal datum [i.e., central seem larger, because it allows occupants to experience the space
organizing element] through the first floor.” more directly from the second floor, and because it creates on the
Given that ceilings are often painted white or some other first floor a sequence of compression and release as one moves
light color to help bounce around available light and keep a further into the room.
space from feeling too closed in, the black-painted ceiling is an “The previous balcony was much smaller and had no view of
unexpected element, particularly in a design aimed at opening the exterior except through the narrow skylights,” Loosle-Ortega
up a house’s interior. said. “We purposely enlarged the balcony and added the library
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