408 Gravatt Dr, Berkeley, CA 94705

Just completed, this incomparable contemporary by J. G. Espinoza-Francisco Group Design and Construction marries uniquely sculptural architectural elements with tremendous artistry, innovations, and endlessly mesmerizing views. Elevating everyday living, its orientation optimizes outlooks, which include unobstructed panoramas of the Bay, San Francisco, Marin, the Oakland cityscape and Claremont Canyon Preserve. Arrays of windows, glass doors and skylights frame luminous displays and suffuse the home with remarkably vibrant natural light. Connecting visually and physically to its stunning surroundings, public rooms extend to view-studded, spacious balconies, and multiple rooms open to a level, landscaped back yard. Throughout the home, dynamic, curvilinear spaces expand and contract, forging dramatic displays and spaces equally awe-inspiring as inviting. Sculpted, milky walls form curves and coves, integrating inset book and display shelves, window assortments, four fireplaces, window seats, which cleverly conceal storage, and lighted art alcoves inspired by Japanese tokonoma. Aesthetic contrasts abound as each room reveals an original ceiling configuration comprising angular frameworks and lustrous wood beams. Consistencies exist as well; components such as Turkish Travertine and Brazilian Cherry floors and stylized sconces, as part of an ambience-heightening lighting scheme, are reiterated to exceptional effect. Two floors of living space top a two-car garage and 500-bottle wine cellar. A three-stop elevator, elegantly appointed to correspond to finishes within the home, serves each floor. Three en-suite bedrooms, including two master suites, occupy the bedroom level, ideally separating public and private areas. Steeped in sumptuous amenities, master suites contain fireplaces, outdoor spaces, multiple cedar-lined closets, and spa bathrooms embellished with radiant natural stone, a stunning yellow onyx counter and tub surround in one; a rich, textural marble comprises the double-sink counter, shower and bubble-jet tub surround in the other. The third bedroom on this level corresponds in endowments with the fourth bedroom, which occupies the public-room floor, equipping it to serve also as an office, den, au pair or other. Both contain lush granite-bedecked bathrooms and cedar-lined closets; one offers exterior access. The beyond-great-room kitchen and family room and living and dining rooms present dynamic, thoughtfully conceived multi-dimensional indoor and outdoor spaces for gathering and savoring views. Within the kitchen, a full array of integrated stainless appliances includes a Thermador six-burner rangetop with griddle, warming drawer and double ovens. Matte concrete slab counters grace the island, prep, seating and desk areas, intersecting sleek custom cabinetry, which, in tasteful butterscotch, harmonizes with the neutral and natural palate.