A Beautifully Retrofitted 1969 Airstream Strikes a Chord With a Nashville Musician

Turning old buildings into contemporary homes not only saves resources and time, but it also gives…

North of San Francisco, in Glen Ellen, a less populated part of the Napa wine country, the culture has been based on agriculture and was named for an original winery.  Jack London made this his permanent home here in the early 1900s. Drawn by the land, London believed in the redemptive qualities of rural life. Less than an hour from the City, rolling hills covered with groves of oak trees surround the downtown. The strong agricultural history has affected the built environment here with many examples of barn like houses that are confusingly morphed between the two vocabularies. On the existing footprint of a 1950’s ranch house, this family getaway evolved in response to a request for a retreat from their urban lifestyle. The atmosphere of a tack barn renovated into a bunk house on site inspired thoughts of a larger barn like typology for this main house of 3,900 square feet. The request from the client was to build in a consistent way within the rolling hills dappled with agricultural buildings. A simple, rectangular, two-story form emerged with an asymmetrical gabled roof. The shorter side of the roof faces the southwest sun and reduces heat gain to the structure. Fenestration is limited to this exposure as well and is organized like thin full height ventilation shutters that reference traditional barn building. The entry, a larger version of the vertical slit elements is recessed for shading. The fireplace and chimney, foreign to the barn typology, is displaced from the structure with glazed joints. The east side is more open to the view and morning sun. A continuous, building-sized assembly of steel sash glazing includes large sliding doors that pocket into the adjacent wall and open the kitchen to the rear terrace.  The upper zone of the main space is void of windows and reminds one of the empty shell-like spaces of barns. A large vertical wood shutter located on the southeast gable end is aligned axially with an internal access through the plan on both levels. When open at both ends, prevailing breezes flow through the mass cooling it naturally. In order to leave the hillside intact and avoid grading, the form is excavated into the site uphill and cantilevered over it downhill. A steel grated bridge connects the upper sleeping level with the hillside and tack barn above. A minimal material pallet of reclaimed redwood, corrugated Corten steel and black steel sash windows combined with integral gutters, and lack of overhangs further the minimal feeling of the construction. Inside the singular materiality is continued via California Oak for floors wall and ceilings. Radiantly heated floors and minimal cooling provided only at sleeping areas, coupled with enhanced glazing, insulation and mechanical system efficiencies mitigate energy use. PROJECT TEAM Architecture : Faulkner Architects Contractor: Redhorse Constructors Civil Engineer: Adobe Associates Structural Engineer: CFBR Structural Group Mechanical Engineer: Sugarpine Engineering Electrical Engineer: Sugarpine Engineering Geotechnical Engineer: NV5 Landscape: Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture Lighting: Ken Fulk Interior designer: Ken Fulk Theatrical/AV: SoundVision Pool Engineer: Terracon Pool Consultant: Blue Revolution Construction Project Manager: Walker Construction Management Special Inspections: PJC & Associates CALGreen: Gilleran Energy Management Irrigation Design: Dickson & Associates Arborist: Bartlett Trees PHOTOGRAPHY Joe Fletcher Photography

Forgotten industrial buildings built in the last century, old warehouses that have not been in use for a while now and dilapidated structures needing an urgent intervention have been some of the reasons for the resurgence of modern industrial style. In an attempt to provide efficient, cost-effective and suitable housing, architects have transformed many industrial […]

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Sited on a site slightly under an acre in the heart of the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, the site for this estate residence descends over thirty feet from top to bottom. Narrow at the street and widening toward the rear, the building was designed to appear as a very private single story structure from the street and expand as the house moves into the site. At just under 14,000 sq. ft. the house was conceived of as a California Modernist Estate the building utilizes the site slope and widening to create a wing typology each reaching into the site to capture garden spaces, set up views and account for service amenities. Designed for peak privacy to the street, there are a series of site walls and fencing that define the property edge. After passing through the gate, the entry to the house is through a descending Entry Garden with water feature with a view through the house to the slopes of Will Rodgers State Park beyond. Shaped as a modified T, the wings of the house extend into the landscape creating separate wings dedicated to the elaborate programming of the building. Containing formal spaces for Entry, Living and Dining the house also offers a large entertainment style kitchen, Large Family Room, Library, 16 person Theater, Wine Cellar, Gym with Spa Bath including Sauna and Steam Room, secondary winter closets, dedicated two bedroom Guest House as well as six bedrooms including a Master Suite over 1,500 square feet with his and hers baths and closets as well as a garage for seven plus additional carport parking for three. All of this is balanced with a series of large exterior decks, patios and pool all wrapping around the stately eighty-foot tall Eucalyptus tree, which served as the aesthetic basis for the materiality of the building. Balancing the solidity of the extensive board form concrete walls is an expansive use of glass and the warmth of stained wood siding throughout the building. The remainder of the building is wrapped in integral colored steel troweled stucco. This palette is based on the colors and tones of the tree that is the center of the garden. Passing materials from the interior to the exterior, doors disappearing into internal pockets and flooring extending onto the decks and patios all help to create a seamless relationship for the interior to the exterior, house to land. This relationship realizes a full use of the site for its entire acre site.

From adaptive reuse to midcentury rehabs, these deft renovations deserve a second look.