The Schaffer Residence lies amongst the oak trees of a wooded picnic site frequented by the family. The internal spaces are sketched with a deft yet informal minimalism inside a compound described by redwood fencing. Daylight and sunlight penetrate through the gaps between the fencing boards, dematerializing its boundary.

The hourglass shape of the main space—part extrovert living room, part introvert walled garden—is produced by the accommodation wings levering in like a pair of scissors and the poised position of the fireplace. Space is pushed out to the sides of the chimney by the angling roofs above the kitchen and dining room, to views of trees and sky. The 2ft wide concrete strips of the formal entrance path become, at the end of the house, a playful forest-edge boardwalk. A congress of roofs, sliding past each other yet also somehow agglomerating, accentuates the atmosphere of a clearing in the forest.

Campbell-Lange, Barbara-Ann, Lautner, TASCHEN, 2023