CHENG Design + Zephyr Celebrate US Modernist
Celebrating An Industry Icon: Fu-Tung Cheng
For more than 30 years CHENG Design, led by acclaimed designer Fu-Tung Cheng, has been at the forefront of crafting exquisite award-winning custom homes in California with sustainable, emotional, and timeless design.
Join us as we celebrate Fu-Tung Cheng and his partnership with the US Modernist Organization as he showcases 5 never-before-seen-to-the-public CHENG Design homes.
Visit usmodernist.org/cheng for tickets to the self-guided tour of 5 houses throughout the San Francisco Peninsula.
- Modernist House Tours | Los Altos and Portola Valley | Saturday, September 21
- Bluff House Sunset Cocktail Party | Tiburon | Sunday, September 22
These events benefit US Modernist, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational archive for the documentation, preservation, and promotion of Modernist architecture.
Ascension House
The tree-like canopy structure of this hillside house seamlessly integrates with the site’s natural contours. Reclaimed virgin redwood, salvaged street elm, and reclaimed railroad ties were used throughout, adding rich history and sustainability to the home’s design.
House 7
House 7, a concrete village, was designed to immerse the family in an ongoing interaction with nature. Its standout features include a celadon-colored, sculpted geological wall that mimics a natural rock face and a unique “erosion time-lapse wall” that slowly reveals hidden sculptural objects as it weathers over time.
Los Altos
This Los Altos home is sequestered behind a verdant surround of heritage trees and dense foliage on a dead flat, corner flag lot in a typical suburban neighborhood of single family one- and-two-story homes. The L-shaped property and the client’s wish for maximum square footage set the building in a congruent configuration with the perimeter. Privacy and a desire to “blend” with the neighboring California ranch-style homes influenced the low-slung shed roof aesthetic and the use of re-claimed redwood siding.
The wide concrete entry “platform” was meant to float over the ground with a dramatic, cast concrete sculpted black wall as a backdrop that extends from outside to the interior. The floors are integrally colored and polished cast-in-place concrete. They are sprinkled with semi-precious stones, mother-of-pearl, and imbedded compositions of found objects. The kitchen island was also cast-in-place with design accents keeping the owner’s South Asian heritage in mind. The original design for the separate meditation refuge at the rear of the lot has been temporarily requisitioned for its utility in the temporal world as an office.
Portola Valley
This 4,500 square foot home is clad in light charcoal and muted gray yakisugi (shou sugi ban) wood planks. Three Alaskan White Cedar glulam trusses with custom machined king posts highlight the open living room and kitchen space. Light filtering skylight apertures and eaves with deep overhangs play light and shadow theater throughout the house. At the entry, the largest of the many heritage oaks on the property is circumscribed with a low-contoured concrete wall that resembles the shape of a Japanese ceramic planter, whimsically transforming the sheltering oak into an enormous ‘miniature’ bonsai.
Tiburon Bay House
The topography of the site for Tiburon Bay House was a rift cut into the hillside, which inspired the design concept of an ascent up a narrow canyon path. The climb from the street to the front door includes three flights of stairs that are made up of individually precast stair treads in concrete with deep undercuts to accentuate their stacked layers. The cantilevered den to the left of the entry extends nearly 20′ over the patio of the family and exercise room. This projection reinforces the idea of canyons and overhanging cliffs as vantage points of the sweeping bay views.
About Fu-Tung Cheng
A Zephyr Design Partner for more than 20 years, Fu-Tung Cheng has seamlessly integrated Zephyr range hoods into his custom homes, including the Lux Island featured above. Cheng has played a pivotal role in redefining the range hood through his timeless designs and innovative use of materials.