This house Designed by Berkley-based McGlashan Architecture is located on a beautiful hillside in Marin Country, near San Francisco. Its form and color are inspired by the hillside landscape. It has three levels and three generations of an extended family live there.

Roofs of all three levels are planted with drought resistant and native gardens. Besides that it is super insulated and designed for passive solar conditioning. With the solar panel array, it is also designed for a net-zero energy footprint. Thanks to generous decks, window walls, and big openings the house is very wheel connected to the outdoors.

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This recently completed project by Andrew Berman Architect was designed as a library and studio for a writer. As you approach the studio, you are greeted by an oversize glass door, with nothing but trees providing a contextual scale for the building.

The building is divided programmatically, with the studio lifted up off the ground (and therefore providing privacy from neighbors), and a storage area located at ground level. With the studio floor situated at the elevation of the tree canopies, a floor to ceiling picture window provides the inhabitant with panoramic views of the wooded area beyond. A building-wide skylight floods the studio with daylight. The exterior of the building is clad in copper, which is meant to weather naturally over the years.