Oak

This single-story courtyard home takes its shape around a leaning Australian tea tree cherished by the owner. The tree anchors a south-facing courtyard that brings daylight into the house and provides a shared outlook for the kitchen, gallery-like hallway, primary suite and small temple. This intimate outdoor space gives the home a quiet center, connecting daily life with the tree that helped inspire its design.

The owners’ extensive art collection informed the proportions, surfaces and lighting of each space. Clerestory windows help distinguish areas within the plan while balancing natural light with the need for display walls. At the entry, a wall for artwork mediates the transition from outside to inside and defines the dining area within the open layout. It also introduces the home’s central circulation spine, drawing visitors through a sequence of spaces unified by polished concrete floors.

Two small cottages were removed to make way for the new house, but their material history remains. Old-growth redwood boards were carefully salvaged, sanded and incorporated as accents throughout the interior, adding warmth and a tangible connection to the site’s past. In-slab radiant heating and environmentally sensitive materials complement the restrained architecture. With four bedrooms and four and half baths within 2,500 square feet, the home brings art, landscape and personal ritual into a cohesive setting for everyday life.