639 Mirada Avenue is a residential project at Stanford University campus, within their residential subdivision and adjacent to the historic Hoover House, which is the current Stanford Presidents residence. The client, Stanford Faculty Staff Housing (FSH) was interested in achieving a high-quality and attractive building and site design that would respect the neighboring properties and provide a venue to house visiting dignitaries or professors.
Our experience working on campus, and in particular, our familiarity with the residential subdivision and the goals and mission of FSH aligned well with the project’s design goals. The project initially required a comparative evaluation of the existing residential home and a new structure. The evaluation reviled inadequate structural and soil conditions under the existing home, as well as programmatic inefficiencies. This led us and FSH to the conclusion that providing a new home would allow for programmatic requirements, relieve existing site issues, and be more cost effective.
The new 4,000-square-foot craftsman style home is sited to take advantage of the sloping site and views. The two story, four-bedroom home is above a below-grade garage and has large indoor and outdoor entertainment spaces looking out to views of the south bay mountains. The home provides the University with both a beautiful residence and entertaining venue, while providing new privacy for the Hoover House and improving drainage issues for adjacent properties.
