{"id":418711,"date":"2026-01-19T05:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T05:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418711\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T05:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T05:11:13","slug":"inside-a-contemporary-palo-alto-mansion-that-blends-serenity-with-geometric-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418711\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside a Contemporary Palo Alto Mansion That Blends Serenity With Geometric Design"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Silicon Valley, where the rush to be ahead of the curve is practically a love language, one couple commissioned a home that could marry that ethos with a slower approach to life. \u201cHe\u2019s very out there\u2014wants the latest, fastest clicky thing possible\u2014and she wants everything to be harmonious and calm,\u201d recalls Paul Vincent Wiseman, founder of the Wiseman Group<\/a>, a San Francisco\u2013based interior design and architecture firm. Their brief, in other words, was to make serenity and circuitry live under one highly considered roof, in a \u201chouse to function for each of them,\u201d adds Mauricio Munoz, the studio\u2019s design director, who created the home alongside Wiseman and associate design director Luis Alves.<\/p>\n

These clients had previously lived in what Wiseman calls a world of high-end spec houses, which were lovely but lacked the level of detail the office is known for. The elegant yet unexpected home they envisioned would also serve as a gracious backdrop for hosting. \u201cThey told me that entertaining was a really important part of their life\u2014not just them, [but also] their young adult kids,\u201d Munoz says. \u201cThey wanted to create a place where they want to invite their friends, and where gathering can happen for the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

More from Robb Report<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A custom pivot door revealing elgomise triptych murals in varying degrees of translucency; the custom staircase had to be airlifted into the space.<\/p>\n

The entry sequence sets the tone for the project\u2019s fusion of technology, craft, and occasional whiffs of spirituality. The wife is \u201cvery interested in feng shui,\u201d Wiseman explains, and the front pivot door needed to satisfy its energetic rules. A typical mirror in the foyer was out of the question lest it usher good energy back outside; instead, the team designed a trio of triple-layered eglomise reverse-painted mirror panels. \u201cThere\u2019s parts that you see through, parts that reflect back,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, it\u2019s a very contemporary design, but it satisfies the feng shui energy movement, which is very important to them.\u201d The glass appears to be fractured into abstract triangular shards, a bit like broken ice\u2014a motif carried throughout the house.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An elgomise triptych mural with three layers of glass in the living room.<\/p>\n

Materially, the team anchored the home in a quiet, almost monastic palette of limestone handpicked in the quarries outside of Valencia, Spain, and oak for warmth. \u201cIf you look at the materials that are being used\u2014the wood, the stone, the figured marble\u2014everything is harmonious, highly unique, and detailed at the same time,\u201d says Wiseman. Subtle variations, including a brick pattern in assorted scales, keep the restrained hues from ever feeling flat. \u201cWe try to avoid the white box,\u201d Munoz notes. \u201cWe want something warm, something humans can live [in].\u201d<\/p>\n

Programmatically, the house is a study in both duality and togetherness. \u201cWe have a primary suite for her and a primary suite for him, and each of them represent their personalities in some way,\u201d explains Munoz. She is \u201ccalm and cool and collected and loves nature,\u201d which is reflected in her room, where crystal lights dangle and 3-D-printed metal leaves, backed by mica and lit from behind, appear to flutter in a breeze up the leather-wrapped wall. His bedroom, meanwhile, has an LED-lit headboard wall that also resembles shattered glass. The theme is repeated on the interior of the angular panels lining the surfaces of the private theater, which either conceal or reveal serious tech gear depending on whether the lights are on or off. \u201cIt constantly can be transforming\u2014colors and shapes\u2014all playing with lights inside the space,\u201d Munoz adds. The result is a kind of private resort, where the two of them can live their best lives to the max: They have \u201ca full spa, a full theater, full area for entertainment, bars, and so on,\u201d Munoz says. \u201cEven the garage is entertaining,\u201d Wiseman adds.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The husband\u2019s primary bedroom with layered geometric white-oak panels by Gregory Pemberton Designs; a bathroom in Botanic Wave quartzite and John Pomp light fixtures.<\/p>\n

As one might expect with a new build at this level, it wasn\u2019t without its hair-raising moments. Take the spiral staircase, which was fabricated off-site from solid steel and craned into place in one piece before the roof was constructed. \u201cThe handrails are all wrapped in leather by hand, and the walls behind it are also leather panels,\u201d Wiseman says.<\/p>\n

In the oak-clad wine room, which was partially inspired by the work of the Wiseman Group\u2019s collaboration with the late Frank Gehry\u2014who wrote the foreword to its monograph, Inner Spaces<\/a>\u2014a rose-tinted mirror adorns the ceiling, creating the illusion that the undulating shelving for bottles stretches high above you. Like all the rooms in this home, it grows more entrancing as you spend time in it. Wiseman likens the experience of being here to meeting \u201ca woman who\u2019s highly sophisticated and dressed in haute couture. You say, \u2018Oh, isn\u2019t she beautiful?\u2019 \u201d he says. \u201cAnd then as you get to know her, you notice that the clothing is custom, the jewelry is the best, the hair is the best, and the details are all there. But the first impression is this one whole quality: beauty. And that\u2019s kind of the philosophy we have: The closer you look, the more you see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Custom<\/p>\n

Custom two-tone wall upholstery decorating the triangular forms on the home-theater walls.<\/p>\n

From the street, you\u2019d never guess what\u2019s unfolding behind the facade of the home. \u201cYou would drive by, and you would never know it\u2019s there,\u201d says Wiseman. Multiple volumes are arranged around a \u201ccentral courtyard where the pool [is], so you always feel you\u2019re totally private in relation to what\u2019s happening beyond you,\u201d Munoz adds.<\/p>\n

That depth of detail within has made the house exceedingly comfortable\u2014almost dangerously so. \u201cWhen we went to do the photo shoot, the client was there,\u201d Munoz recalls. \u201cHe took me aside and said, \u2018Mauricio, you have put me in trouble. My wife doesn\u2019t want to leave the house, she doesn\u2019t want to go anywhere.\u2019 \u201d In a land of perpetual progress, they\u2019ve landed on something far rarer and more precious: enough.<\/p>\n

Top: The elegant central courtyard with a pool framed by custom limestone firepits and lounge chairs by Atlante.<\/p>\n

Best of Robb Report<\/p>\n

Sign up for RobbReports’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here to read the full article. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Silicon Valley, where the rush to be ahead of the curve is practically a love language, one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,175760,175761,175758,175757,5884,61,175759],"class_list":{"0":"post-418711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-luis-alves","11":"tag-matthew-millman","12":"tag-mauricio-munoz","13":"tag-paul-vincent-wiseman","14":"tag-silicon-valley","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-wiseman-group"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}