Thousand Oaks Residence, Berkeley Hills, California Real Estate, CA Retreat, USA Weekend House, Architecture Photos
Thousand Oaks Residence in Berkeley Hills
July 10, 2022
Design: Sogno Design Group
Location: Berkeley Hills, California, USA

Photos: Michele Lee Willson Photography
Thousand Oaks Residence, CA
Sogno Design Group’s clients bought a small house on a beautiful lot with many large boulders and live oak trees in the Berkeley hills with the idea to capture unused views and make space for three generations. The Thousand Oaks house, which melds influences from the clients European and Japanese heritages, is nestled between the natural features of the site so as to preserve as much of site as possible.

What were the key challenges"
Some of the key challenges were to double the size of the house, while not disturbing the many large Coastal Live Oak trees and huge boulders and to capture the views of the San Franciso Bay from as many of the rooms as possible. The enlarged house needed to accommodate the parents, their two children and the grandmother, who is very much part of the family but needed to have some privacy as well.
The house is also in an Wildland/Urban Interface zone, so all the construction materials and methods needed to meet strict fire codes.

What are the sustainability features"

The house has solar panels, a hydronic heating system in the floor, state of the art insulation, double glazed windows, Tesla power walls, cement-fiberboa...