“He is one of the most knowledgeable clients we have ever had” commented Steven Stept, lead architect of Slot House, a sleek modern home perched among the trees of Los Altos Hills. The clients now live there full time with their daughter, soaking up the South Bay heat, and continuing to immerse themselves in the surrounding natural beauty- as well as the burgeoning Los Altos Hills design scene.
The homeowners, now involved in tech and finance worlds, are both long time modern architecture aficionados. Hailing from Minnesota, these home tour and design savants spent weekends in their early twenties attending the Twin Cities Parade of Homes. “It’s such a wonderful event, showcasing projects of every size, as well as price points; it allowed every member of the community to tour their dream home, no matter the price” she commented.
“I would ride my bike down to construction sites near my house, park across the street, eat my lunch, and watch them build a home” he remembers of his childhood, entranced by the process of creating something from a sketch, an idea. Today, the family regularly attends home tours in the area, and has featured their own home in well-attended tours and events.
I was lucky enough to get a personal tour lead by the home owners themselves, and their loving fluff of a dog, Charlie. “The name the architects chose, Slot House, was functional, but we usually refer to our home as ‘Charlie’s Place’, so many factors brought him into consideration.” The home has an abundance of outdoor yard space for the dog to play, forty foot sliding doors that open up onto a view of the surrounding hills, and tile floors to better accommodate slippery paws and claws.
“The most important part of the process, for me, was collaboration,” said the home owners, “Working with the interior designers, the landscape architects, and FA was so easy and successful because of a shared understanding, and an ease in communication and the sharing of ideas. Everyone valued our input, and we were all equals in the process.” This collaborative mindset shines through when experiencing the home, the design is a perfect blend of the homeowners design sensibilities, one favoring modern, white, and restrained palettes, and the other carving out cozy spaces for dark blue furnishings and suede.
The home, at its core, epitomizes the clients’ life dream- to one day have a self-designed house, to open it up to their community- to share and enjoy their love of architecture, and live amongst it every day.