Levy Art + Architecture’s latest luxury residential project has earned a coveted spot in Architectural Digest (AD).

The collaboration between Ross Levy, client Yishai Lerner, and AD100 designer Charles de Lisle resulted in the transformation of a quaint two-story fixer-upper into a stunning contemporary residence perched atop a hill in central San Francisco, boasting breathtaking 270-degree views of the bay.

From the seamless integration of architectural details to the infusion of vibrant, Northern California-inspired elements, this project exemplifies the seamless fusion of modern aesthetics and functional elegance. Levy Art + Architecture added extra square footage, and also engineered the home’s smallest details—for instance, installing invisible air conditioning vents in the seam of the living room’s gabled ceiling, and custom-designing the winding iron staircase so it appears to be floating independently of the walls. “I’ve built software my whole life,” Yishai explains. “So I’m always thinking about the user experience.”

Notable luxury features include tall ceilings, uninterrupted planes of glass, a home office, home gym, an Alaskan cedar–lined sauna, and a Redwood hot tub, custom console in the entranceway, creamy Nordic-inspired Douglas Fir wall paneling in the TV room, Ceppo de Gre Stone in the guest suite (the very same that clads the gray facades of Milanese apartment buildings), a dark purple Blue Star kitchen range with brass details, and a custom kitchen island by furniture designer Martino Gamper.

Learn more about the architectural features and design journey of this remarkable home in the latest feature on Architectural Digest.

Read the rest of the article in Architectural Digest here…

Architecture Team: Levy Art & Architecture (Karen Andersen, Shirin Monshipouri, Andrew Sparks, Michael Ageno, Sonja Navin, Ross Levy) @levy_aa
Stair Fabricator: Melissa MacDonald⁠
Furniture Maker: Martino Gamper @martinogamper⁠
Interior Design: Charles Delisle @charlesdelisleoffice⁠
Contractor: Blair Burke GC⁠
Site Superintendent: Brad Lord⁠
Project Manager: Nicole Barsetti⁠
Structural Engineer: Daedalus Engineering @daedalusstructuralengineering⁠
Clients: Yishai and Sabrina Lerner⁠
⁠Phototographers: Eric Petschek @ericpetschek and Karen Andersen @almost.elfish

Levy Art + Architecture’s recently-completed luxury residential design was featured in the nation’s largest luxury media outlet.

Sky High

by MAILE PINGEL, PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER STARK

A trio of talents breathe new life into a dated condo atop San Francisco’s Russian Hill.

“This is a one-of-a-kind apartment, but it was a bit of an unorthodox approach for me,” says San Francisco interior designer Eche Martinez of the Russian Hill condominium he recently completed with architect Ross Levy and fellow designer Cindy Bayon. “I got to come in after the dusty part of the project and bring it to life,” he says. The condo, located in a landmark building, was nearing the end of its two-year renovation by Levy and Bayon when the owners, newlyweds, brought in Martinez, whom the wife had met through a mutual friend, to take the project across the finish line. “Cindy and Ross did an incredible job of layering natural materials and beautiful finishes for an eclectic, quirky Bay Area aesthetic, and it was an impeccable job by the builder, Justine Sears,” he explains. “My role was really more of an art director.”

“It’s a modern space within a traditional setting,” explains Levy, a longtime friend of the husband. The original floor plan was a series of formal rooms, so the architect opened the space to create a contemporary flow that would also establish a gallery-like setting for the couple’s art collection. Working with project architect Patrick Donato, Levy rearranged the entry sequence to take advantage of spectacular downtown and Bay Bridge views. Original doors and windows couldn’t be changed, so they were painted white to disappear into the walls. Likening the condo’s new flow of rooms to a renovated historic Italian palazzo, Levy then added subtle definition to the great room by creating varying ceiling designs over the living, dining and family room areas.

Read the rest of the article in Modern Luxury Magazine here…

Architecture: Levy Art & Architecture (Patrick Donato and Ross Levy) (@levy_aa)
Contractor: Moroso Construction (Justine Sears)
Interior Designers: Cindy Bayon & Eche Martinez
Photographer: Christopher Stark (@christopherstark)

We overhauled a Marina-style house on Ocean Beach, allowing our client to keep an eye on the surf in the Pacific Ocean. The editors at Dwell wrote the following feature about the project:

A SURFER’S SAN FRANCISCO HOME HELPS KEEP AN EYE ON THE WAVES

Words by MELISSA DALTON, Photographs by JOE FLETCHER for Dwell (read the original here)

If you’ve walked around San Francisco, chances are you’ve passed a Marina-style house. After all, the style originated in the city’s Marina District. “They were simple houses: one story over a garage,” says architect Ross Levy, who overhauled a specimen on Ocean Beach last year.

Although the house faces the Pacific Ocean, much of its outlook was compromised by poor window placement and an ad-hoc addition. “Sometime in the ’60s, someone plunked a third floor on top of the house, and they really did plunk it down,” says Levy. “It was like someone airlifted some plywood and nailed it together. And then you had a third floor.” 

This meant that the resulting interior floor plan was “strangely arranged” and not conducive for the home’s most recent owner, a passionate surfer drawn to its proximity to the water. Levy sums up the client’s brief: “See the waves from wherever you are. That was the program.”

The home’s existing layout clustered the living spaces on the second floor— there, the front door opened into the living room, and the staircase was crammed into a narrow passage. The bedrooms were then spread between the two floors, and there was an ocean-facing deck at the third level, but the view on one side was blocked by the house. 

For the remodel, the team flipped the floor plan, relocating the communal spaces to a gently expanded third floor. Dubbed the “lookout,” that level is now filled with natural light and has an enviable vantage point of the water. The designers reduced the number of bedrooms to three and grouped them all together on the second floor. 

As the architects started cataloging the available space during the preliminary design phase, they made a happy discovery: “There was this cavity between the second and third floors in the building that we didn’t fully understand until we started measuring and tearing stuff apart,” says Levy. “That gave us all kinds of design opportunities that we hadn’t really counted on.”

The team anchored the new design with a bold, sculptural staircase treatment, wherein the open oak tread appears suspended on a screen of steel rods. The delicate treatment allows light to flow down from the top floor. “One of the perennial problems with the reverse floor plan remodel is, how do you get the people from the bottom to the top?” says Levy. “So, we made this floating, rod-suspended stair to be as light as air, and to really draw your eyes straight up.” 

Now, the home is more in sync with its surroundings—and even better, the homeowner’s lifestyle. Although the family only moved 20 minutes away from their last home in Bernal Heights, being this much closer to the water makes all the difference when taking advantage of good conditions. “For surfers, they can look at the surf report and [check the] cameras online,” says Levy, “but there’s a lot to be said for being there.”

Architecture: Levy Art & Architecture (Melissa Todd, Shirin Monshipouri, and Ross Levy) (@levy_aa)
Builder: BBGC, Blair Burke General Contractor
Structural Engineer: FTF Engineering
Lighting Design: Levy Art & Architecture
Interior Design: Levy Art & Architecture (Frances Weiss)
Cabinetry Design/Installation: Eckhoff Furniture Manufacturing
Permit Consulting: Quickdraw
Metal: Local Metal

HOME DESIGN: SUMMER 2015

AERIE

BRINGING THE PARTY HOME

A POTRERO HILL RELIC GETS A MAKEOVER IN NEON AND GLITTER.

Words by LAUREN MURROW

IN THE KITCHEN OF Heather Forbes and Steve Sacks’s Potrero Hill home, color-changing LEDs trim the counters and a disco ball twirls overhead. A new Dutch-inspired electric hoist on the front of the house is capable of raising 880 pounds— “a lot of beer and party supplies,” jokes their architect, as well as groceries and laundry. Traditional barstools have been swapped out for custom wooden swings. “We discovered swings like these in a bar in Tulum 15 years ago,” remembers Forbes, “and we never really forgot about it.” Their kids—Cameron, 11, and Jasmine, 9—eat breakfast at the counter every morning, gliding to and fro between bites.

Clearly, this is a house that was built to party. That comes as no surprise to those who know the couple: he a former DJ and bar owner and she a print-loving interior designer. “We wanted a home with a sense of humor,” says Forbes, founder of Sayde Mark Designs. And from the original glitter art to the octopus-print wallpaper, self-serious it’s not.

Built in 1903 and bought in 2001, the original house was dark and closed off, with no view to speak of. So the couple enlisted Ross Levy of Levy Art & Architecture to blow the roof off, topping their abode with a new third floor and tacking on a trio of terraces. The living room adjoins the grill-equipped roof deck through sliding glass doors. In the bathroom, a pair of outward-facing French doors create the effect of an indoor-outdoor shower, where one can enjoy views of Sutro Tower while they shampoo.

As a finishing touch, the family christened their new home with a fresh coat of accent paint: lemon yellow in front, hot pink in back—which is visible from the peak of Bernal Heights Park. “People either love the paint job or they say nothing,” laughs Forbes. “But who cares? We think it’s fun.”

IMAGE CAPTIONS

1. Owner Steve Sacks and his kids, Jasmine and Cameron, in their kitchen. Architect Ross Levy wrapped the living and dining area in a wave of French oak.
2. The custom stairwell is flooded with light by an east-facing window.
3. The family gravitates toward neon hues. “This is one of those houses that’s a true expression of the people living in it,” says Levy.
4. Levy designed a trio of decks in back. “Every floor has an outdoor element,” he says.
5. Even in a house surrounded by stunning views, this windowless halfbathroom is a main attraction. “I looked through hundreds of wallpaper swatches,” says owner Heather Forbes. “But as soon as I saw this, I was sold.”
6. The east-facing office connects to the open kitchen.
7. “We used to cram dinner parties around a 4-person table,” says Forbes. This one, from HD Buttercup, seats 14.

View the original magazine spread. View the original in plaintext.