Noe Valley

San Francisco, California

The Noe House is an extensive remodel of an existing hillside home located in the San Francisco neighborhood Noe Valley. Typical of San Francisco, the neighborhood is made up on long narrow lots with a mix of modern and more traditional housing types. The residence sits on a double lot on a very steep site, with a 30-foot difference between the level of the street and the level of the lower garden below.

One of the primary objectives was to improve the connection between the house and the garden. This drove the project’s principal design feature; a central staircase cutting through the building’s volume. A lower story was added under the existing house, containing two new bedrooms and a large lower deck. A double height atrium is located at the entry and leads one up to the primary living spaces at the upper level.

A softer sculptural design language developed for the project, seamlessly connecting a series of decks and privacy walls that direct views to the bay and the garden while maintaining privacy to the neighboring buildings. The soft curves echo throughout the project, often encouraging movement in a particular direction, flowing between narrow and open spaces.