Courtyard of the Outside-In House in Old Palo Alto, with the second story spanning over a covered outdoor dining room and steps down to the lawn

Street front of the Outside-In House in Old Palo Alto, with a stacked stone base and a wood-clad upper volume beneath a large tree

Second story of the Outside-In House in Palo Alto spanning above its covered outdoor dining room, with the garden visible through the opening

View through trees across the courtyard lawn to the white second story and gray lower walls of the Outside-In House in Palo Alto

Aerial view at dusk of the L-shaped Outside-In House among the trees of Old Palo Alto, with hills in the distance

Kitchen of the Outside-In House in Palo Alto, with wood cabinetry, an island with three stools, and a marble backsplash

Dining room of the Outside-In House in Palo Alto, with a veined marble wall, a slatted screen, and a sculptural pendant light

Stair beside a marble screen wall with vertical cutouts in the Outside-In House in Palo Alto

Palo Alto Residence II

Palo Alto, CA

#Basements #DeepFoundations #IndoorOutdoorLiving #SteelFrame

Market: Single Family Residential

Size: 5,000 SF

Architect: Studio VARA

General Contractor: K Welton, Inc.

Designed by Studio VARA to bring the outside in, this new custom home in Old Palo Alto has an L-shaped plan that opens the rest of the site to a large, private courtyard with an outdoor kitchen and a covered dining room, screened from the street. An upper bedroom wing bridges the home’s two volumes, and a light court brings daylight into the full basement. The home is a two-story over basement steel and wood framed building founded on a mat slab at the basement level, and grade beams and drilled piers at the ground level. The gravity system for the building consists of steel framing with wood infill to accommodate long spans and a cantilevering second story. The lateral system is a combination of wood and concrete shear walls. Completed in 2024, the home was featured in The Wall Street Journal.

Click here to read our press post on The Wall Street Journal feature, or read the full article.

Photography Credit: Matthew Millman

Next → Paso Robles Law Residence