Steep Flag Lot Shaped Every Decision in This Contemporary California Home
Story at a Glance:
- The 4,800-square-foot home is situated on a long, narrow driveway with a steep slope, which was incorporated into the design to maximize space and functionality.
- The home is clad in a hand-raked stucco with limestone accents, and contrasting black trim.
- Interior spaces are thoughtfully divided to balance openness with privacy, including a cozy stairwell cut-out and a secluded breakfast nook.
- Large windows and skylights flood the interior with natural light, enhancing the connection to the surrounding greenery and creek.
While there are several perks to building on a flag lot—having fewer neighbors, for one—the awkward shape can also pose a number of challenges. When designing a custom home for their clients in Fremont, Calif., architecture firm Mahya Salehi Studio ran into several of them.
From the lot's unusually long and narrow entry to its steep slope and strict local zoning requirements, the design team, along with Hayward, Calif.-based Padam Builders, faced a number of obstacles when developing the 4,800-square-foot home. But by using the site's conditions to their advantage, the project team was able to deliver the contemporary California home their clients envisioned.
“I felt like it was a challenge from the beginning," says Mahya Salehi, principal architect at her eponymous studio. "But those are really the projects we look for in our office, because that's what makes it interesting to us and ends up becoming the concept [for the project],”
A Tricky Site
Situated on a flag lot, the home is tucked away, accessed by a long, narrow driveway between two existing homes. Following the drive, the site opens to a buildable lot before sloping off toward a creek at the rear.
Rather than treating the slope as a challenge, the team incorporated the steep grade into the design. Local zoning limited structures to two stacked stories, so the design team embedded the lower level into the hillside and staggered the upper floors, gaining a third floor while still adhering to zoning requirements.
The site had its advantages too, says Salehi. One perk was not being beholden to a specific design standard. The clients had a specific contemporary aesthetic that they wanted to achieve, and without neighboring facades or a streetscape to address, there was more room to pursue this goal on its own terms.
MORE: A Louvered Staircase That Creates a Private Room
“There wasn't this pressure of having to correspond to your immediate neighbors or the streetscape," she says. "It gave us a lot more flexibility and creativity.”
The home features a hand-raked white stucco exterior with limestone elements for texture. Black trim around windows and doors add contrast while remaining within the contemporary design aesthetic.
A Contemporary Home Filled With Light
While contemporary, the home isn't purely open concept. Moments of privacy are sprinkled into the floor plan as well. For instance, a cut-out beneath the stairwell doubles as a cozy seating area while remaining part of the main floor.
The kitchen, open to the living room, still maintains a sense of quiet and calm. A breakfast nook tucked off the kitchen provides a more intimate dining option, and warm neutrals and greens help ground the space.
“From the very first design sketches, we didn't want to do your typical kitchen… It was about making it a cabin-like tree house immersed in greenery with the large windows and the creek in the back,” explains Salehi.
Light was also factored into the design in a major way. A large window wall toward the rear anchors the main living area, and skylights bring light into interior corridors where windows weren't possible.
MORE: The Post-Covid Home
A Home Designed in Quarantine, Developed for the Future
The home was designed during the hieght of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this was heavily factored into the programming. Rather than simply adding a home office, Salehi approached the home as a flexible space that should grow and change with its occupants.
Privacy was key. Each of the five bedrooms has its own private outdoor space and bathroom. Two bedrooms on the lower level are designed to be accessible for aging relatives staying for extended periods.
“It was a very strange time to be thinking about the future and what those needs are going to be,” says Salehi. “... Very early on, we were thinking about this house as this flexible, evolving, living organism that has to be able to address different circumstances and needs.”
Project Details:
Location: Fremont, Calif.
Area: 12,700-square-foot lot size | 4,800 square-foot interior space | 3,050-square-foot house footprint
Contractor: Padam Builders
Architect: Mahya Salehi Studio
Interior Design: Mahya Salehi Studio
Photographer: Adam Potts
Related Reads:
About the Author
Catherine Sweeney
Catherine Sweeney is the associate editor for Pro Builder and Custom Builder, where she creates both digital and print content, including Pro Builder’s daily e-newsletter and various news stories for both brands. Before joining Endeavor, she began her career in local journalism, later pivoting to the commercial real estate industry where she worked for several years as a reporter and editor.