OAKLAND HILLS HOUSE 1

Oakland, California

1993

Appearing as two buildings above ground and one below, the two halves of this structure are separated by a private outdoor space dug into the steeply sloping site.  Cement board panels clad and define one half of the house, the other is covered with corrugated aluminum siding. A series of bridging elements traverse the courtyard to join the two distinctly separate volumes; the center is occupied by creating a void. At the upper level, a connecting platform serves as an outdoor room.

Jennings is uncompromising and consistent.

The superb flight of freestanding stairs in the intermediate zone, the entrance area shielded by etched-glass plates, and a bridge between living space and atelier integrate the home in an intelligent way and create the archetypal California relationships and uses of open space.

DBZ (Germany) 03/02

Jennings, whose work is highly respected for its thoughtfulness and elegance, has designed the most experimental looking of the area’s hundreds of new houses. The 2,500-square-foot house offers a brilliant architectural solution to the inherent problem of the hillside lot: how to find the right balance between the security of being enclosed and the exhilaration of looking out.

Elle Décor 04/96

The benefit of the internalized strategy (most of the windows face the interior courtyard) is that the most important relationships are established to the sun, to the openness of interior space, and to the freedom of living.

GA Houses 46 (Japan) 06/95

Of all the houses built after the [Oakland Hills] fire, the one by Jim Jennings is arguably the best: the clearest, the most responsive to the altered site.

Architecture 08/95