The house is located on a west-facing hillside with long distance views toward lakes and mountains. One of the clients was a painter who wanted spaces to be softly filled with sunlight. The other loved to cook. The house is divided into three parts, the main living areas with bedrooms, a studio for painting, and a screened porch connecting them. All this is lined up in a north to south direction.
The painting studio is a single room with high ceilings and glass-filled walls on three sides. The screened porch faces both east and west to get morning and afternoon sun and views. The main living spaces and the master bedroom are on the west side in order to capture the view.
How to keep parts of the house from being dark for half the day when the sun in on one side or the other? We arranged skylights along the ridge-line and combined them with a light shelf on both sides of the hallway so that sunlight would be gathered all day and reflected into each room without glare. The result is a soft daylight all day long in any part of the house.