3 Inspiring Custom Homes in California
These three modern residences were designed by architect Randolph Ruiz, a member of New Avenue’s creative design team.
Our design team has a diverse range of experience, from small ADU projects to full custom homes. This allows us to best serve our clients as we design for their specific needs and personal lifestyle. From clean modern homes to craftsman-style ADUs, we can do it all. What we get most excited about is seeing our clients step into their project when it is complete, and they get to feel the quality of spaces.
One of our talented designers, Randolph Ruiz, has worked on some incredible award-winning projects. He is currently working on a small modern ADU that is under construction, but he has also created luxury modern homes, custom residences on hillside properties, and beautifully crafted cabin getaways in the woods. Here, we are highlighting three exceptional projects that balance beautiful design, fine craftsmanship, and strong connection to nature. Each project offers a different scale, a different style and glimpse into Randolph’s design sensibilities.
Upper Rockridge Residence
If you are looking for a modern custom home, this will be right up your alley. Clean forms, modern lines, great proportions and simple, elegant materials define this residence.
The beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows connect the interior to the garden and views of the valleys below. Yakisugi (shou sugi ban) siding—a natural material of charred wood—wraps the second level and contrasts with the concrete block walls of the ground floor. These concrete walls are also a strategic decision as they, along with the polished concrete floors, provide thermal mass for the interior, regulating temperature fluctuations and maintaining a comfortable interior environment. Sliding glass walls open up the living spaces and allow them to flow out into the garden patios. A nice layout that balances views and privacy, great flow from space to space, and natural light that floods the interior are the final touches that set this custom home apart. It is a one-of-a-kind jewel of a residence that showcases Randolph’s design skills.
One of the best features: it has a detached ADU guest house tucked into the backyard.
An ADU is something all of our new custom homes have. Because our clients see the incredible value an ADU adds, we may never build a home without one again. The flexibility of having more than just a single-family house is so important for the way we live today and the way we will be living in the future.
Location: Rockridge, Oakland, California
Design Team: Randolph Ruiz and Benjamin Parco
Photos: César Rubio & AAA
Awards: AIA East Bay: Exceptional Residential Honor Award
Year: 2015
Mendocino Residence
Where the last home was perched on a hilltop in a residential neighborhood of Oakland, this project is tucked into the forest, far removed from its neighbors—unless you count the beautiful trees and wildlife. For this vacation cabin, Randolph created a warm and inviting but modern interior for a traditional A-frame style cabin. Clever placement of windows, unique details like the custom balcony railing, and the natural materials of the wood ceiling tie the interior design together. It is always wonderful to escape life in the city to reconnect with nature. These project types are so much fun because we get to respond to the surrounding landscape and look for ways that the building can compliment and be influenced by nature. Large windows, sliding doors, and a carefully selected material palette tie this design together.
Location: Fort Bragg, California
Design Team: Randolph Ruiz
Type: Single family vacation cabin
Year: 2020
Pasadena Glen Residence
Hillside slopes are both incredibly common yet present unique challenges for residential design and construction. How do you adapt a house to work with the slope of the land while balancing aesthetics, function, and budget? For this custom home, the concept was to invert the typical house layout. Rather than walking into the ground floor with the bedrooms above, the house was flipped upside down. The main living space and kitchen is located on the second floor to take advantage of the views over the landscape. The ground floor has the private spaces, bedrooms, and bathrooms that need more privacy. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows wrap the upper level while balconies cantilever out so the residents can step outside and float over the landscape. The clients wanted a design that would be unique, durable, and affordable, so Randolph used an industrial aesthetic, celebrating the steel structure and wrapping the home in fiber cement siding. It was also designed to be fire resistant, which is vital in the California climate. The real design work is how the glass walls and punched windows frame the surrounding nature and make that the backdrop to the interior spaces.
Location: Pasadena, California
Design Team: Randolph Ruiz
Awards: Pasadena/Foothill AIA Award of Merit, 2006
Photos: Erich Ansel Koyama
Year: 2002
These examples of custom homes are each unique and beautiful in their own way. They were designed to respond to the intricacies of the site, the program and budget, and the aesthetic tastes of each client. To achieve these results, it was important to get to know the clients, understand how they lived, learn about their passions and quirks, and develop strong relationships where we could talk through opportunities and challenges. It is an iterative process where conversations, multiple design ideas, and construction details come together to form an amazing home. It takes a strong team and a great conductor to successfully navigate the entire design-build process. Especially on high-end residences and family vacation homes that are so personal and intimate, it is vital for your designer to listen, share ideas, challenge your preconceived notions of what a house can be or look like, and integrate the design with the surroundings—responding to climate, landscape, budget, function, and beauty. As you can see here, Randolph has a wonderful sensibility as he weaves his custom homes onto each site.
If you are interested in working with Randolph on a custom home, an ADU, or other residential project, please get in touch. We are always looking for clients who have big dreams, will challenge us with creative design opportunities, and who appreciate the process of collaboration to craft inspiring residential designs.