The architects at California-based Fernau & Hartman were tasked with creating an energy-efficient second home for a Palo Alto family that would unite architectural and landscape elements to bring the outdoors inside. The architects’ biggest challenge was fitting the home on the narrow leg of an L-shaped lot, upon which the family’s primary home already stood on the adjacent leg.

With contemporary design in mind, the firm created a 4,012-square-foot wedge-shaped house on the small space surrounded by landscape features that help weave the two homes together. Kebony wood was used in the design of the façade – another method to merge the home with its environment.