Three houses, all vastly different in their forms, materials, and execution with one common feature: an in-character, if slightly quirky, take on a cupola that provides light and, in all but one case, extra living space for its owners. In every case, the light source creates a signature, whether on top of trendsetting custom designs or adding visual interest to a SoCal production home, and an encouragement to the industry to let fly with a little extra height.
Project: Style Setter 80s, Upland, Calif.; Entrant/ Architect: Berkus Group Architects (now B3, A Berkus Design Studio), Santa Barbara, Calif.; Builder: Lewis Homes, Upland
Project:Connecticut house, Waterford, Conn.; Entrant/Architect: Graham Gund Architects (now Gund Partnership), Cambridge, Mass.; Builder: Jose Ponte, Pawtucket, Conn.
Project: Fiore, Irvine, Calif.; Entrant/Builder: Pardee Homes, San Diego; Architect: William Hezmalhalch Architects, Santa Ana, Calif.
VISION QUEST: Barry Berkus' Style Setter 80s iteration (left), the recipient of a grand award in 1982, featured several new and foreshadowing concepts for residential design: dual master suites on the main level, a wide-open public core, the home as a destination rather than simply shelter. The copper-topped cupola and adjacent skylights on either end flood the interior's center space and a column-supported second-story loft with light and serve as part of a passive solar heating scheme that was way ahead of its time.
UNDERSTATED EXCELLENCE: There are several refreshing takes on this Waterford, Conn., four-square, center-hall house (top), a grand award winner in 1996, from a trio of full-height chimneys to a shift in the floor plan along the back that creates two-story volume bathed in the light of the façade's symmetrical window design—topping out in a fourth-level sitting room overlooking an ocean view.
FRONT AND CENTER: Designed in the style of a Tuscan Village, Plan 2 at Fiore (below) in Irvine, Calif., a 2003 grand award winner among large production homes, achieved its intention with a 13-by-15-foot, third-level retreat that bridges the home's two wings and creates a shadowed setback across the entry. Inside, it offers an unobstructed, panoramic view.
