Lam Residence
San Francisco, California

This addition and remodeling to a three-story Sunset district house gives the living spaces on the upper floor easy access and views to the private garden at the rear of the lot. The original house is a row-house type plan which allows very little light penetration from the sides (the house is three feet away from its neighbors), and follows the usual pattern of placing the living room on the second floor over the garage and facing the street thus effectively isolating the living spaces from any relationship to the outdoor backyard garden. Our new plan removes the rear wall and introduces a glassy three story high winter garden / family room with a stair completely open to the new room on one side and connecting the living spaces on the first and second floors together and to the outdoors.

At the third floor, the open stair leads to an enlarged master bedroom suite with an indoor window from which the garden room and the outdoor patio can be viewed.

The second floor also overlooks the garden room and now has a new breakfast room, a south facing lattice covered deck and an entirely new kitchen. The ground floor garden / family room contains a laundry center and connects to an enclosed hot tub room that can be opened up to the garden.