Normandy Cottage Rebuild

This new home in Oakland, CA was designed for a client that didn’t want one. She was thrust into the world of custom home design and reconstruction by the fire that swept through the Oakland Hills in 1991, burning down not just her house, but her entire neighborhood. The only thing that remained standing on her property was her chimney, like a tombstone marking the loss. Personal memory, healing and recovery were an essential part of the design process for this home, which drove us to reinterpret it for a new chapter in life rather than simply replicating the old one.

Photography by Alan Geller and by Charles Miller
Designed in collaboration with Cass Calder Smith
Built in collaboration with Randy Keller, Northbay Construction