Charming urban apartment with wonderful details

Losa Loft, situated in San Francisco, California’s Mission District was very dark and cluttered before Aidlin Darling Design remodeled  it into a warm, cleanly-detailed space for urban living. The charming small apartment of 1,530 square feet was turned into a well-organized, sunlight-filled home with wonderful details. The space was stripped down to its bones and rendered as a neutral white box, into which five key, cost-effective architectonic elements were inserted. The “Cradle,” a Douglas fir entry feature that holds home office space, bookshelves, and storage, is interwoven with the “Zipper,” a steel-and-wood stair and railing piece. The plate-steel “Hearth” anchors the living room, while the “Stage” is a bi-level, sit down kitchen counter that lets guests witness the client’s formidable culinary skills. And the “Scrim,” a wall of translucent sliding panels made from fabric stretched and stapled onto wood frames, supplies privacy and solar shading. Each component responds directly to performance and program criteria, animating the interior in an efficient and meaningful way.

Photos:  Matthew Millman Photography

Stunning contemporary Shift Loft in San Francisco

Shift Loft is a project by Aidlin Darling Design that sought to convert a stale penthouse apartment in San Francisco, California into an open light filled loft. Exploiting the long spans of the building’s concrete frame, several constricting layers were removed to provide open space that reconnects inside and outside. Spaces and interior elements are deployed as furniture-like objects to enhance the perception of openness. Large expanses of sliding glass doors and windows are used in concert with reflective surfaces to horizontally frame layers of space and distant panoramas.

A gorgeous Vineyard Estate in Sonoma

This gorgeous Vineyard Estate is carefully sited on the edge of a sixty-acre vineyard in Sonoma, California. Designed by Aidlin Darling Design, this monastic 14,000 square foot stone structure establishes a temporal frame of reference for mapping its physical environment. The estate includes the main home, as well as a caretaker’s residence, barn, irrigation center, water storage, outlying garden rooms, sculpture gardens and an orchard. The main house incorporates stacked stone walls organized round a long reflecting pool, and large glass openings that obscure the boundaries between inside and outside.

Photos: John Sutton and Marcus Hanschen

Steel and glass pavilion on Ocean Beach

A translucent glass bridge connects this 1,820 square foot Corten steel and glass pavilion to a mid-century modern house, Ocean Beach Residence has been designed by San Francisco Bay Area architect Ernest Born of studio Aidlin Darling Design. Gently placed among existing trees, the addition, though physically simple, is phenomenally complex. A private cypress grove in the rear and the Pacific Ocean in front are experientially connected through a strategic layering of space, view, reflection, acoustics, and nature.

Photos: Matthew Millman & Robert Schlatter

Striking rural dwelling: Paso Robles Residence

This rural home is nestled on an 80-acre agricultural site in California’s Central Coast wine region of Paso Robles. Paso Robles Residence is a 2,667 square foot weekend home that will eventually become the owner’s full-time residence, designed by San Francisco-based studio Aidlin Darling Design. The design directly responds to the wide diurnal temperature fluctuations of its arid climate. The architecture firm had to figure out how to create a building that cools itself naturally, even in 115-desgree temperatures. Masonry walls anchor the building to the earth and structure the primary living spaces, centering activity around a covered outdoor living room. The design integrates the use of thermal mass, night cooling, orientation, shading, deep overhangs, passive ventilation, photovoltaic electricity, solar hot water and radiant heat, thus helping to meet the clients’ goal of living in harmony with the local climate.

The home’s reliance on thermal mass, night cooling, passive solar orientation, shading, and natural ventilation enabled the clients to forgo an active cooling system.

A covered terrace with a fireplace links the home’s public wing with the pool area, facilitating outdoor dining throughout the year.

Sandblasted concrete block becomes both an interior and exterior finish material.

Strong axial relationships establish a connection to the site from every point inside the house.

Aidlin Darling Design used windows to promote cross-ventilation and to frame carefully chosen views.

Weathering steel picks up on the landscape’s darker hues.

Photos: Matthew Millman Photography