03/03/2026
At Sundial House in Clarendon Heights, light and shadow carry equal weight: one revealing, the other receding, shaping moments of calm, contrast, and ritual.
Designed by Karen Curtiss with close attention to the neighborhood’s sun path and microclimate, the four-story hillside home is organized around a double-height living volume and a reimagined stair at the core, an anchor that functions as a vertical “sundial,” tracing daylight through the heart of the house. A 20-foot expanse of skylights draws top light deep into the section, sharpening the experience of movement between levels.
Set on a through lot overlooking San Francisco, the structure engages a steep slope shaped by historic cut-and-fill. From the street, it reads as a restrained two-story volume; below, descending levels open to a more private living space where the stair balances solidity and air, movement and repose.
Recently published in SHLTR.
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