Built | 2025 | Noe Valley, San Francisco

In Light

A home organized around a single column of daylight that marks the passing of the day.

The design began with an understanding of the people who would call this place home and how they live day to day. Their needs and routines shaped the layout and connections between spaces, creating a home that feels personal while responding to the character of Noe Valley.

At the heart of the home, a large skylight becomes a vertical aperture, connecting the interior to the sky and the quiet rhythm of the day. Light acts as an anchor, a soft column that marks the passing of time. Moving through the house, full-height windows frame outward views and keep the senses open to the landscape.

The dwelling is a porous shell in constant dialogue with the outdoors, opening at the rear to a backyard that feels like a private retreat.

Because the property was subject to the Ellis Act, permitting was complex and required a hearing. Through those complications the project received its permit. During construction, AURAX stayed in close contact with the builder and the interior designer so the house was built as planned.

“She’s meticulous about details, but also able to step back and see the big picture, making sure the design intent carries through from concept to execution.”Nabeel Samad, client, The Vault & Light and In Light, Noe Valley

Location: Noe Valley, San Francisco
Type: Whole-house remodel and rear addition
Scope: Client and lifestyle study, space planning and design, permitting through a hearing, coordination with the builder and interior designer during construction
Size: Single-family home, 4,951 sq ft
Status: Built, 2025
Architecture: AURAX, Maryam Nassajian
Interiors: Michael Kramer
Structural: Della Tran
Contractor: Owner-builder
Images: Design renderings. Out of respect for the owners' privacy, the completed home is not photographed.

Street facade of In Light: a pale stucco volume with a framed vertical-slat screen, black slatted garage door and recessed entry stair, between traditional San Francisco houses

Front of the house seen at an angle from down the street, the slatted screen and setback top floor framed by a cypress tree

Rear elevation stepping back over three levels, with full-height glazing and glass balconies above a gravel garden with a long timber bench, a stone table and a fire pit among boulders

Living room with a linear fireplace in a marble hearth below a wall-mounted screen, the floating oak stair with its black steel stringer, and the kitchen island beyond

Dining room behind a full-height vertical-slat screen facing the street

Dining room with a wood-lined buffet niche and suspended pendant lights, opening toward the kitchen and living room

Kitchen with walnut-toned cabinetry, a marble-topped island, marble backsplash and a skylight above the stair

Third-floor hall outside the bedrooms, lit by a square skylight over the stair, with a glass guard and gallery wall

Primary bedroom with dark wood-paneled walls and floor-to-ceiling windows to a balcony and treetop views

Ground-floor media room opening through floor-to-ceiling glass to the rear garden, with steps up to a gravel terrace, a timber bench and a fire pit beyond

Rear garden seen from the house: wide timber steps up to a gravel terrace with a long timber bench, a stone table, a fire pit among boulders and a timber deck, enclosed by a slatted black fence

Design process

A single column of light

The house began as two diagrams of how the family lives. On the main level, dining, kitchen and living line up along one path, with the stair beside them; upstairs, the bedrooms gather around the same circulation. The massing sketch that followed turns that path into a light-filled circulation column: a skylight over the stair carries daylight down past the bedrooms, the living and dining floor and the media and guest level below.

Hand-drawn bubble diagram of the bedroom level: two bedrooms sharing a bath at one end, a bath and closet leading to the primary bedroom at the other, deck access shaded green at both ends and a circulation zone between — Bedroom level

Hand-drawn bubble diagram of the main level: dining, a small pantry, kitchen and living in a row, linked by arrows, with deck access shaded green at each end, a vertical circulation zone shaded beside them and a grey arrow tracing the path through the floor — Main level

Hand-drawn massing sketch of In Light: a long box with decks cut into the front and rear, a yellow column of light falling from a skylight down through the bedroom, living and dining, and media and guest levels, with notes marking the light-filled circulation column, the entry to both levels, the 30-foot San Francisco design guideline at the front and the permitted obstruction at the rear — Massing: a light-filled circulation column beneath the skylight

Drawings

Floor plans

Before

The original house

The new street facade of In Light — After

Original rear of the house before the remodel: a two-story clapboard and stucco back with an exterior wooden stair — Before

The new rear elevation of In Light over the garden — After

During construction

From framing to finish

The rear of the house framed in wood, showing the stepped upper levels — The rear framed, with its stepped levels

Looking up through the framed skylight shaft beside a tall vertical window opening — Framing the skylight shaft and tall window

The glazed skylight casting sunlight down a plywood wall into the stairwell — Skylight glazed, light reaching the stair

The stair with its dark steel guard rising toward the skylight after drywall — The steel stair rising toward the skylight

The rear elevation with large glass doors and windows installed, still marked with protective tape — Rear glazing installed

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