West Beech
A striking night exterior precedent by The Up Studio showcasing a dark-clad upper volume cantilevered or floating above a luminous, highly transparent ground level.
- What we like about this project
- The stark color contrast between the heavy dark upper box and the glowing white base creates an illusion of weightlessness.
Materials
- wood
- stucco
- glass
- concrete
Visual identifiers
- dark-wood-cladding
- floating-mass
- illuminated-ground-floor
- asymmetric-windows
- light-trails
Style tags
- contemporary
- minimalist
- residential
Visual tags
- night-shot
- residential
- modern-facade
- urban-infill
- high-contrast
- Geometry
- A rectilinear, vertically stacked three-story volume flanked by a contrasting light stucco wall element. The upper dark-clad block floats over a brightly lit, recessed ground floor garage and entry.
- Facade system
- Dark horizontal wood siding over upper levels combined with white stucco wall surfaces and large glazed openings.
- Structural guess
- Wood frame construction with steel or concrete ground-level transfer structure.
- Spatial scale
- Three-story residential scale, fitting typical narrow urban lot dimensions.
- Lighting
- Nighttime long-exposure photography with a starburst moon, bright interior window illumination, recessed downlights at the ground floor, and red car light trails across the foreground.
- Atmosphere
- Dramatic, nocturnal, and serene against the active motion of urban traffic trails.
- Environmental context
- Suburban or dense residential street edge flanked by neighboring traditional and contemporary houses.
- Spatial experience
- From the street, the deep base illumination creates a contrasting plinth for the dark, floating upper mass, anchoring the urban infill residence.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetric window groupings balance against the solid dark facade planes.
- Style reading
- Contemporary minimalist residential architecture
- Program
- Single-family residence
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- wood, stucco, glass, concrete
- Visual identifiers
- dark-wood-cladding, floating-mass, illuminated-ground-floor, asymmetric-windows, light-trails
- Style tags
- contemporary, minimalist, residential
- Visual tags
- night-shot, residential, modern-facade, urban-infill, high-contrast
- Geometry
- A rectilinear, vertically stacked three-story volume flanked by a contrasting light stucco wall element. The upper dark-clad block floats over a brightly lit, recessed ground floor garage and entry.
- Facade system
- Dark horizontal wood siding over upper levels combined with white stucco wall surfaces and large glazed openings.
- Structural guess
- Wood frame construction with steel or concrete ground-level transfer structure.
- Spatial scale
- Three-story residential scale, fitting typical narrow urban lot dimensions.
- Lighting
- Nighttime long-exposure photography with a starburst moon, bright interior window illumination, recessed downlights at the ground floor, and red car light trails across the foreground.
- Atmosphere
- Dramatic, nocturnal, and serene against the active motion of urban traffic trails.
- Environmental context
- Suburban or dense residential street edge flanked by neighboring traditional and contemporary houses.
- Spatial experience
- From the street, the deep base illumination creates a contrasting plinth for the dark, floating upper mass, anchoring the urban infill residence.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetric window groupings balance against the solid dark facade planes.
- Style reading
- Contemporary minimalist residential architecture
- Program
- Single-family residence
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture