Alchemy
- BJ Siegel, a former Apple Design Director, collaborated on the design of his Sonoma home.
- The weeHouse is larger than a tiny home but is prefabricated and modular the way many tiny homes are.
- The home was completed in 2016 for a total of $600,000.
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Apple is known for its thoughtful designs and its attention to detail in its iPhones, laptops, and AirPods.
A California home design from Alchemy Architects gives a look at what the Apple design aesthetic might look like applied to a house.
BJ Siegel was a senior design director of real estate and development at Apple for 10 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2016, the designer collaborated with Alchemy Architects to create a customized version of their weeHouse design.
Siegel’s house isn’t quite a tiny house; it’s two structures that combine to be nearly 1,000 square feet, although it is modular and assembled off-site, as many tiny homes are. The sleek, minimalist design has some qualities in common with Apple products, in neutral colors and high-end finishes. Take a look at the house here.
The house is really two structures: a 640 square foot main house, and a 330 square foot guest house.
Alchemy
The two open-sided structures, which both sit on concrete, were shipped nearly completed.
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They were designed to each ship in two pieces, with boxes shipping as one module, and detached porches as the other.
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The two buildings are connected by steel stairs and railings, also designed by Alchemy.
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The main house is set up like a studio, with an open kitchen, living room, sleeping area, and bathroom.
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The guest house is a smaller version of the main home, and also has its own bathroom.
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The built-in oak wardrobe adds storage, and also acts as the wall to the bathroom, blocking it off from the rest of the home.
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They have ipe wood interiors, with custom oak cabinet doors.
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Both buildings are open-sided, to best take in the views from the Sonoma site.
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Both buildings have weathering steel siding.
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For this project, Alchemy adapted its original weeHouse design to add high-end finishes requested by Siegel.
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It was designed in Minnesota, and mostly built in Oregon.
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Alchemy said that the structures were 90% done when they were delivered to the site in California.
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They were placed on a hill surrounded by oak trees, positioned specifically for the views.
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In 2018, the design won the American Institute of Architecture’s Small Project Award.
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