This was a total gut and remodel of a 1920's Marina style town house. The first aim was to open up the central spine of the house to daylight. The problem with a large expanse of glass on a flat roof though, is that it lets in too much heat from the sun during the summer, and cuts off what limited sunlight there is in the winter.
The roof could have been raised along this area, with a band of clerestory windows on the south side, shaded to modulate the sun. But the owner carried a lingering nostalgia for his sailing days, and having a swath of open sky was important.
The solution was to let the skylights face up, and design a series of polished stainless steel reflector/shades over the skylights. These reflectors curve from bottom to top — tangent at the bottom of the curve to meet the angle of the sun at winter solstice; tangent to the top of the curve during equinox.
The house is detailed to look as though a shipwright might have imagined it. In areas sheet rock is held back to reveal horizontal bands of Douglass Fir, structure is revealed in discrete locations, the central wall billows northward like a stretch of canvas.
The stairway folds over on itself to emphasize the allusion to going below deck. Hints of natural light penetrate the lower rooms, and a rear facing bedroom opens to a deck framing the garden.