2023 AIASF Home Tours
AIA San Francisco in collaboration with the Center for Architecture + Design is pleased to announce the 2023 AIASF Home Tours (formerly San Francisco Living: Home Tours), an annual open house event featuring five residences designed by leading Bay Area architects will take place on Saturday, September 23 from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
As the first tour series in the Bay Area to promote residential design from the architect’s point of view, this highly-acclaimed event showcases five projects that promote innovative residential and represent a variety of architectural styles, neighborhoods, and residences, including single-family homes, multi-family complexes, and contemporary renovations. AIASF Home Tours takes place every year in September as part of the annual Architecture + the City Festival.
Tour participants view some of the latest residential projects from the inside out, examine new housing trends, and discover design solutions that inspire unique modern and sustainable living. This year’s Home Tours Headquarters will take place at the new Center for Architecture + Design located at 140 Sutter Street in San Francisco.
Additionally, festival attendees will be able to attend the Architects Forum on Wednesday, September 20, featuring a panel discussion with the architects whose projects are featured in this year’s AIASF Home Tours. Note: Architects Forum is free to Home Tours ticket holders; RSVP required for ticket holders upon purchase.
AIASF Home Tours tickets are now available for online purchase through Saturday, September 23!
AIA Member: $85; AIA Students: $60
General (Non-Member): $95; Student (Non-Member): $65
2023 AIASF Home Tours Sponsors
NEIGHBOR LEVEL
Photo Credit: Bruce Damonte
Photo Credit: Paul Dyer
Photo Credit: Adam Rouse Photography
Photo Credit: Bruce Damonte
About the Home
The project started as a re-design of an old, shingled Victorian house, but the scope changed drastically when a fire ravaged the home on Christmas 2017. The single-story house was previously overshadowed by its taller two-story gabled neighbors. As the fire forced a reevaluation of scope and scale, Mork-Ulnes evaluated the proportions and exterior massing of neighboring homes. For the exterior, the charred black painted silhouette was intended to take cues from its quintessential San Francisco neighbors. The proportions, scale, and massing are derived from its surroundings, but reinterpret Edwardian design cues into more abstract decorative elements like siding patterns and solid-void composition.
Architect: Mork-Ulnes Architects
Project Design Team: Casper Mork-Ulnes, Lexie Mork-Ulnes,Greg Ladigin, Phi van Phan; Interiors by Alison Damonte
Neighborhood: Bernal Heights
Site Area: 1,634 Sq. Ft.
Floor Area: 2,818 Sq. Ft.
Completion Year: 2022
Photographer: Bruce Damonte
Golden Gate Heights Residence
Bernal Heights Residence
About the Home
Reflecting the West Coast’s bohemian roots, this remodel combines Eastern European modernism with a wabi-sabi flair. Perched atop Golden Gate Heights with views of the Marin Headlands, this mid-century residence didn't do justice to its spectacular setting. A compartmentalized floor plan, with deteriorated fixtures and finishes, made for a dated feel. It was time for a major reset. The house was reconceptualized, inside and out. The goal was to elevate its roots and create a space that would accommodate large gatherings while keeping an intimate, personal feel for everyday living. Passing through that gate is otherworldly, transforming the outside world into a surreal experience that recalls the Light and Space Movement of 1970’s California. Guests are ushered to a staircase that leads to a Zendo-inspired garden and front door.
Architect: John Lum Architecture
Project Design Team: John Lum, Mana Behdad
Neighborhood: Golden Gate Heights
Site Area: 63,655 Sq. Ft.
Floor Area: 2,951 Sq. Ft.
Completion Year: 2018
Photographer: Paul Dyer
Russian Hill Residence
About the Home
Located at the end of a narrow mid-block alley in the pedestrian-oriented and densely rich context of San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood, this project involved a reimagination and expansion of an existing two-unit home while merging the subject property with a small adjacent vacant lot bordering the shared mid-block open space. The design maintains the small existing building footprint, focusing on preserving the adjacent open space while expanding the living space by converting a storage area at the garden level and up through a single-story vertical addition. The bold, faceted, object-like red stair provides a glimpse into the nature of the house from the alley level and connects all 4 floors vertically. A quiet, modern façade becomes the reimagined face fronting the narrow alley and frames the pedestrian view to Coit Tower.
Architect: Dumican Mosey Architects
Project Design Team: Eric Dumican, Russell Frank,
Matthew Mochizuki
Neighborhood: Russian Hill
Site Area: 2,164 Sq. Ft.
Floor Area: 3,300 Sq. Ft.
Completion Year: 2022
Photographer: Blake Marvin Photography
Mint Hill Residence
About the Home
The home was built for another site and another time. Moved from Bernal Heights to Waller Street, adjacent apartments blocked light into the windows built for another place. On an early trip to the home the architect saw that the bathroom lightwell had the best light and became the stair location bringing sunshine through the core of the house. The team added a story and a housing unit to the property with a garden apartment and two-story home above. The client’s strong eclectic design and environmental sensibility inspired the integration of a Whole House fan, radiant heat, no AC, PV with battery backup throughout the entire house. The home is almost entirely electric, except for the hot water heater, as Heat Pump Water Heaters were not as prevalent or affordable at the time of the design and build phase of this house. Gas is routed to the water heater and the homeowner’s goal is to replace this with an electric water heater when the time for replacement comes.
Architect: Red Dot Studio
Project Design Team:
Project Principal: Karen Curtiss
Project Architect: Barbora Bei
Design Team: Camille Peignet, Mark Myers, Henry Gao
Neighborhood: Mint Hill
Site Area: 3,000 Sq. Ft.
Floor Area: 3,558 Sq. Ft.
Completion Year: 2022
Photographer: Leslie Williamson
Twin Peaks Residence
About the Home
On a downslope lot in San Francisco, a restrained composition of steel frames, aluminum windows, and deep gray cement plaster makes up the facade of this three-unit residential building. On the lower level, a two-story unit makes the most of its connection to the outdoors, opening to a spare garden finished with fine gravel and concrete, onto which dappled light spills through the canopy of a new tree. A double-height volume holds the living room and kitchen, while the bedroom tucks into a mezzanine for a private, cozy retreat. Strategically placed vertical windows provide privacy for the building’s one-story middle unit, the space slowly decompressing to culminate in a high-ceilinged living room that leads onto a generous deck with sweeping views of San Francisco. The distance from the street on the building’s highest level allowed the architects to give the owners’ suite, located on the top unit’s second floor, an entirely glazed front facade, producing a space with visual connections to its surroundings in both the front and the back.
Architect: Michael Hennessey Architecture
Completion Year: 2021
Photographer: Adam Rouse Photography