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San Diego Magazine /  January 2008 /  Well-Connected Spaces

Well-Connected Spaces

A Solana Beach house modernizes for a greener future

BY THOMAS SHESS

WHEN IT CAME TIME TO UPGRADE their modest, 1,200-square-foot Solana Beach bungalow, Katharine and Stein Lundby didn’t want expensive “status” material. They told architects Ralph Roesling and Rick España they would rather spend money on good ecological and sustainable design.

Stein, a research engineer and inventor for Qualcomm, and Katharine, a semiprofessional bike racer and graphic designer, both in their 30s, felt it was more important “to participate in life and enjoy the world around us,” Stein says.

The couple agreed their old home, including a “blah” ’70s remodeling, was like living in a shipping container full of clutter. There was no connection to the beauty of the ocean, nearby San Elijo Lagoon and the neighborhood, or their planned landscaping improvements.

“We wanted the lightness and cleanliness of Japanese design because it includes materials and a building process that are honest: no fake-wood beams, fake-brick walls or structural elements hidden by stucco or plaster,” Stein says.

“Stein and Katharine redefined our notion of great clients. Right away we clicked, because we share the Japanese belief that a home is only a home when it connects with the garden,” says Roesling, whose two partners at Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects, Kotaro Nakamura and Chikako Terada, are Japanese-Americans. Roesling’s wife and college sweetheart, Mun, a Hong Kong native, is also a principal in the company. “Asian design ideas flow easily throughout our firm,” Roesling says.

Because the Lundbys wanted a contemporary design to take advantage of the year-round ocean breezes that provide natural air conditioning, RNT Architects created a breezeway facing the Pacific to capture and funnel air currents up into a two-story great room. The air circulates through the house and pushes the rising warm air out of a series of ceiling-level clerestory windows.

Another sustainable aspect of the remodel was the subtle V shape of the roof, which allows a center channel to capture rain and fog condensation. The roof drains the water to a rain chain, which directs it to an underground cistern. Water from the cistern is then used on the landscaping.

For warmth, the Lundbys requested radiant heating in the central great room, in which heated water flows through coils of copper pipes imbedded in the concrete flooring. To counterbalance the expense of the copper piping, RNT used an inexpensive concrete wall block throughout.

“We got lucky,” says España. “We found a concrete block made with a pigment that matched the dining area’s walnut flooring, the cherry-wood kitchen cabinets and the Douglas fir ceiling beams and mahogany window trims.” Sandblasting made the block pigment stand out.

The master bathroom is a microcosm of the home’s broader themes, says España. The modern bath is located in the added, single-level private wing. The tall windows in the bath open the interior to the outdoors. Adding large numbers of new windows harks back to mid-century modernist design and complies with the client’s desire to have the garden visually available. The bathroom windows are divided into three segments: windows at the top open to release the warmer air and bath steam; opaque center glass provides privacy but allows light to filter inside; and lower windows open to view the garden.

Stein is delighted with his new beach oasis. “My work shields me from nature and how beautiful it is here. My e-mail inbox and my to-do lists are cluttered. My mind is full of things that need to be kept track of. In contrast, our new home is clear, open and clean in its de sign and in its form. In that sense, it is a refuge.”