Architect Robert Nebolon: Keeping it in context
Architect Robert Nebolon’s award winning designs emerge from neighborhoods where they are located
by Stephanie Cartozian
Robert Nebolon grew up in Rancho Palos Verdes in a sprawling ranch style home that had two front doors because the house was so long. Its unconventional design, he said, is in part responsible for the unconventional approach he takes to architecture.
Robert Nebolon grew up in Palos Verdes and began his own architectural practice in Berkeley, California in 1993.
Neblolon attended Miraleste High School in the late ‘70s, and now lives in Berkeley, where he went to undergraduate school. He subsequently attended the University of Washington for his degree in architecture.
Neblolon likened designing homes to juggling 20 balls in the air, with each ball representing a constraint.
There are standard constraints, such as budgets,which require negotiating with the homeowner. And there is precedent, which in Nebolon’s words can be “handcuffing.”
But with constraints come opportunities to be creative, he says.
His Q House, also known as the Marin County Tiny House, won the American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Francisco Design Award in 2021.
The name comes from Appendix Q of the Marin building code, which relaxes standards for Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs), under 400 square feet. The relaxed building requirements make it possible to complete construction within half a year, and for under $50,000, Nebolon said.
The Q House exterior consists of corrugated metal siding. The inside paneling is repurposed wood from an old barn, imparting a rustic and woodsy interior. The mirror pond outside the front door is a 100-year-old concrete cattle trough.
This little home, on 50 acres, has everything a dweller might need: a complete kitchen, bedroom loft, built-in case cabinets,a living area and ample natural light.
“Interior spaces shaped by natural lighting tend to feel warm,” says Nebolon. A modern version of a pot belly stove acts as the heater in the heart of the home. This refuge is durable, cozy and able to withstand the elements. Nebolon says he designs houses to age well over time, which is made easier by the fact that he has a background in structural engineering. One aspect of Nebolon’s style, he says, is “context designing.” Nebolon concerns himself first with the external environment, and brings the more striking features to the forefront, but unpredictably so. “We take so many things for granted. Take something from outside and bring it in — it revitalizes something we might otherwise have forgotten about.”
The interior of the Marin County, “Tiny House,” featured wood from an old barn.
Nebolon accomplishes this in unexpected ways. Other architects might create a large picture window for a site with an extraordinary view. But over time, that view may become almost invisible to the residents. Nebolon suggests, “Imagine a room where the window aims for a special, less obvious part of the view.” He describes his designs as less showy and more intrinsic to one’s experience with the building.
Nebolon designed this award winning, energy efficient and sustainable Hermosa Beach house to emulate the feel and vibrancy of living at the beach.
In 2008, Nebolon won the AIA Grand Award for Sustainable Architectural Design for a “Guacamole” and gray colored energy efficient, contemporary home in Hermosa Beach. Having grown up by RAT and Torrance beaches, he recalled the brightly colored, mosaic beach towels and bathing suits that were then common. He felt compelled, as did the homeowner, to incorporate those vivid colors into a sustainable coastal residence.
This three bedroom, two and a half bathroom home rests on a sloping lot, only 30 ft. by 50 ft. Nebolon utilized glazed block cement in bright green, blue, purple and yellow hues at the playful entrance. Inside and keeping with the beach theme, are multi-colored mosaic tiles in a reimagined kitchen backsplash. Colorful tiles also surround the fireplace, cover the interior load-bearing columns and are on the three walls surrounding an oversized soaking tub in the bathroom.
A floating, metal staircase connects all three levels and the crowning 4th level, rooftop, garden deck. The stairwell acts as a ventilation shaft, known as stack ventilation, removing the need for air conditioning. Leaving a lower level window, or the front door open provides the air pressure necessary to cool the home and maintain a constant, predetermined temperature.
In 2013, the New York Times described Nebolon’s home on Mission Creek in San Francisco as “Houseboat of their Dreams.” It stands out from its 19 neighboring floating houses with its blue and white nautical colors and maritime theme, metal paneling and a saw-tooth roof that references the area’s former industrial buildings.
Nebolon’s “Floating House”made waves in local and national media for its inventiveness maritime character ina section of San Francisco that previously used to be an industrial area.
“The white metal paneling uses a different design pattern than the blue, causing an intentional play with shadows,” says Nebolon. The warehouse style windows allow views of both the water below and the San Francisco skyline. The orange front door is the same color used for the Golden Gate bridge.
Nebolon describes his work as “critical regionalism.” He studies the area he’s going to work in and brings new ideas to the status quo. He introduces rugged materials at entries, and makes each level of the “architectural hike” upwards more refined.
An ancient redwood was the only survivor of a fire that enveloped the Berkeley Hills neighborhood where Nebolon was asked to design a home for a landscape architect.
The house was built away from the tree’s root system, and featured expansive balconies on the second and third levels, looking out on the tree. Initially, the roof was designed to extend beyond the perimeter of the building to become an shading the two sunny decks. Then it occurred to Nebolon that the design would be better served by forming a kind of architectural Redwood tree, by peeling back the perimeter of the roof to the building and creating a large trellis, suggesting a forest canopy.
Nebolon says respecting the uniqueness of each site allows the client to experience his homes differently throughout the day. PEN