Bay Heights is a project designed by Upstairs Studio Architecture. The home on Bay Heights, for a single guy and his toys, was a renovation of an existing mid-century house. The house was built in the 50’s but unfortunately did not possess any of the qualities of the homes of the era that we would consider modern. The challenge was to take advantage of the existing structure and renovate it into a mid-century “modern” house. Photography by Claudia Uribe.

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Our client was a hunter, motorcycle aficionado, skydiver, cyclist, traveler, and general daredevil. He loves to tinker and work on things. He has lots of trophies and artifacts he has collected over the years with immense meaning. It was clear from the start that what he wanted was a “shop” he could live in. We were inspired by his personality and hobbies and designed a central open plan, a garage for his motorcycles with exterior work area, and a new master bedroom with access to a new pool. We removed a lot of the interior partitions of the existing home and created a loft-like open plan for living, dining and cooking. For the additions we opted for board form concrete, both on the exterior and the interior giving the home an organic but more rugged feel in contrast to the white walls, and we elevated the pool deck space making it continuous from the interior of the home.

The Bay Heights home is our house-shop for an inspiring client.