Seventh Street Residence

The 7th Street house responds to the Berkeley vernacular by reassessing contextual response and reconfiguring contemporary residential space. 1920s Bungalows extend across the flats of Berkeley, providing efficient wood-framed housing in walkable, level neighborhoods.

These bungalows share a spatial typology and relationship to the street: a simple rectangular plan filled with rooms abutting each other. Each room houses one typical residential program: sleeping, cooking, bathing or socializing. Interiors are dark and cramped, without transition spaces.

In order to create a richer residential experience, the designers’ reading of that context is the volumes contained within the bungalow. The design strategy expands, shifts and rotates them to prioritize natural light, privacy or connection. The volumes retain their original functions—bedrooms, kitchen, living room and bathrooms—but are modified slightly to meet contemporary needs. All of the rooms retain the intimate scale associated with the bungalow typology, yet gain the benefits of this volumetric strategy: natural light, enhanced public/private distinctions, and cross connection between rooms.

Material choices enhance the formal strategy. Each volume is finished with a neutral but light-reflecting white plaster. Where the volumes intersect, wood panels with an articulated relief and openings highlight the contrast.