Located within the Montclair hills of Oakland, this proposal envisions a single-family residence embedded into a steeply sloped site adjoining the edge of the Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve. The terrain presented a series of intertwined challenges, chief among them the careful placement of the home’s vertical circulation — stairs and elevator alike — in a way that balanced efficiency, accessibility, and the lived experience of moving through the house.

Several constraints informed the design simultaneously. The project responds to Oakland’s hillside planning guidelines while negotiating the technical demands of stepped retaining walls required to alleviate hydrostatic pressure from the surrounding soil. Equally important was the desire to ensure the home never felt burdensome or overly defined by its verticality despite the steep ascent of the site.

Yet within these constraints, the lot revealed unique opportunities. Unlike the predominantly rectangular parcels nearby, the site skews in plan, creating an expanded building frontage and allowing the architecture to unfold more dynamically along the hillside. Bordering the preserve’s network of wooded trails, the house terraces upward in staggered volumes, establishing a direct and continuous relationship with the landscape. In this way, the architecture becomes less an object placed upon the hill and more an extension of the terrain itself — stepping, shifting, and opening toward the forest beyond.