Two Creatives Carve Out a Blissful Home in a California Redwood Forest

The trapezoidal tracing of the property is what defined the construction of this house into three clearly settled volumes. Vegetation also plays a protagonist role in the design of this house, both outdoors and indoors. The exterior trees enclose the house generating distinct tons of shades and colours during the different seasons of the year. Within the interior, the unruly green vegetation, contrasts with the stone floors and solid walls, reaching a perfect sense of balance. The entrance, a double height lobby that creates contrasting sensations and distinct visual ending points originated by water mirrors, light shafts, a tree and a staircase. The walls that shape this area, divide the spaces into private and public areas. The ground floor, is organized into two blocks each with a different purpose: The left side, is a white solid cube that integrates the study and the master bedroom and is separated from the other block by a water mirror and a yard that generates the desired privacy, peace and tranquility. The right side, the social area, is a rectangle closed to the west by a rigid wall and opened towards the interior of the house through large floor to ceiling glass walls, giving sober transparency to the yard with views to the garden and the central courtyard. The different angles within the construction achieve visual ending points with great character, as well as, enhancing the sensations provoked by the pure whites that evolve into mixed tones as the day and the seasons go by.

With unobstructed views of the Western Ghats mountains and the artificial lake, the Shift House is…

Designed for an elderly couple, the ZTG house is notable for its tall marble-clad facades, which…

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