A Spanish Revival home in San Francisco has been given a 21st-century makeover, courtesy of architects Spiegel Aihara Workshop (SAW). Wraparound House, the commission for a family of five, involved updating an existing home, adding space to accommodate group activities and entertaining, and also stabilising and tackling the land below, which was contaminated and in need of remediation. The architects obliged, transforming this San Francisco home into a light filled, generous, six-bedroom abode that bridges past and present, while reclaiming its site.
The architects worked on the design both ‘vertically and horizontally', they say. ‘Rather than simply building upon the new ground, we saw the challenge as redistributing the ground vertically across the site, throughout the building. While many buildings have terraces, or balconies, or things like that, we set out to maintain a complete continuity of a new ground across the entire house, ensuring that every roof was not so much the top of something, but the bottom of something – a new ground,’ says SAW's Dan Spiegel.
San Francisco home with curve appeal
Inside, a central staircase becomes not only a connector between levels, but also a sculptural accent. A second, exterior stair links the different floors via the outdoor terraces. This access and relationship to the outdoors takes place on every level, in different ways; connecting the indoors with the garden, and allowing for long vistas of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge were a key part of the clients' brief.
Meanwhile, soft, rounded corners, light colours, crisp surfaces and large openings ensure the interior of this San Francisco home feels fresh and open, creating a sense of calm, while highlighting the views. Meanwhile design studio White Space, headed by Heidi Kim, worked on the interior.
The rounded edges play another role too, Spiegel explains: ‘It sort of works as a gradient: the spaces are more public, more outward looking at the top, and more private, more inward looking at the bottom. The rounded edges of the garden path form a scooter/bike track; the rounded corners of the family room gradually guide you out to the terrace; the master bathroom is conceived as a thickened window for the bedroom, balcony-like and perched over the bay. On most days, I’m just as likely to take the exterior stairs as the interior stairs to move between rooms. It doesn’t quite look like it, but it works a bit like a mobius strip in that way.' The house's name – Wraparound – is inspired by this too.
SAW's Megumi Aihara, a landscape architect, spearheaded the ground's remediation, starting from scratch with the garden to compose a design that accommodates new soil for planting and new trees, including two majestic October Glory Red maples placed on site. This way, modern architecture is balanced by rich, leafy nature in this San Francisco home.
INFORMATION
-
Reflections from Los Angeles: a local writer's personal account of the LA firesArchitecture writer and local resident Michael Webb reflects on the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires and offers his personal account of the events of the last two weeks in California
-
Sundance Film Festival 2025: The films we can't wait to watchSundance Film Festival, which runs 23 January - 2 February, has long been considered a hub of cinematic innovation. These are the ones to watch from this year’s premieres
-
Wellness takes to the skies and the high seas in this concept superyacht and private jet retrofitHigh-end mobility design pivots to minimalist calm and life-affirming ambience as wellness trends take hold. The Sea Rover yacht and Afterglow private jet point the way
-
Reflections from Los Angeles: a local writer's personal account of the LA fires
Architecture writer and local resident Michael Webb reflects on the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires and offers his personal account of the events of the last two weeks in California
-
LA Mayor Karen Bass outlines her plan for rebuilding the cityFollowing the devastating LA wildfires, which have destroyed more than 12,000 structures, the city’s mayor has outlined her plan for reconstruction
-
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House, a Usonian modernist Michigan gem, could be yoursFrank Lloyd Wright’s Weisblat House in Michigan is on the market – a chance to peek inside the heritage modernist home in the countryside
-
Cabin House is a simple modernist retreat in the woods of North CarolinaDesigned for downsizing clients, Cabin House is a modest two-bedroom home that makes the most of its sylvan surroundings
-
A Texas ranch house blends Californian charm and Asian minimalism in a 'balance in hybridity'Pontious, a Texas ranch house designed by OWIU, is a home grounded in its owner's cultural identity, uniting Californian, Chinese and Japanese roots
-
The three lives of the Edith Farnsworth House: now, a modernist architecture icon open to allThe modernist Edith Farnsworth House has had three lives since its conception in 1951 by Mies van der Rohe; the latest is a sensitive renovation, and it's open to the public
-
Year in review: the top 12 houses of 2024, picked by architecture director Ellie StathakiThe top 12 houses of 2024 comprise our finest and most read residential posts of the year, compiled by Wallpaper* architecture & environment director Ellie Stathaki
-
A vacant Tribeca penthouse is transformed into a bright, contemporary eyrieA Tribeca penthouse is elevated by Peterson Rich Office, who redesigned it by adding a sculptural staircase and openings to the large terrace
