Baran Studio contemporizes Oakland with a new home clad in wood and metal

Architecture firm Baran Studio have designed a home for a family in North Oakland, California.

The form integrates this home into a more formally and stylistically traditional neighborhood, while contemporary design elements and materials keep it modern. Elements like the pitched roof and hung windows make the connection to a traditional home, but such elements are abstracted – the roof becomes a skin that is wrapped around the exterior, and the wrap curls up into the entry area, like a breaking wave.

The color and material expression on the exterior recall an industrial aesthetic, which further links it to the industrial areas of the nearby context, while the wood maintains the warm residential feel. Elements are carried through from outside to inside to maintain connections throughout the project as a singular experience.