Palo Alto, California
Gustave Carlson and interior designer Jessica Davis of Atelier Davis together with landscape architect Kasorn Piamsukon of Ground Cover Landscaping give a new lease of life to a Joseph Eichler home design in 1971, transforming the modernist icon with a rebirth of color and light.
The team worked to redesign the space into a robust yet elegant interior, light and at the same time sturdy and suitable for family life.
The house was originally one of the schemes of seminal 20th-century real estate developer Joseph Eichler, which sought to bring modernist architecture to the everyday family home.
Examples of its type can now be found all over California and are often affectionately called “Eichlers.”
The home’s current owners were after a spacious, comfortable, and stylish base in which to raise their four children; when is spotted this property on the market, they snap it up.
Carlson’s team worked together to redesign the space into a robust yet elegant interior, light and at the same time sturdy and suitable for family life.
Keeping the architecture clean and monochromatic, using black, white, and off-white tones in materials such as wood, cork, and natural stone, creates a sophisticated backdrop for a decor that adds color in layers, employing blues, corals, and yellows throughout.
Meanwhile, an art collection comprising primarily (some 90 percent) female artists further elevates the space.
A fresco by Mariel Capanna in the hallway, for example, welcomes guests.
“Every element of the fresco makes us smile and is a time capsule of our family and this bizarre time of global instability,” said the new owners.
Project: Palo Alto Eichler home
Architects: Gustave Carlson
Designer: Jessica Davis, Atelier Davis
Original Architect: Joseph Eichler (1971)
Landscape designer: Kasorn Piamsukon, Ground Cover Landscaping
