Cavedale Renovation and Entertainment Pavilion Addition

Cavedale Renovation and Entertainment Pavilion Addition

The Cavedale Residence was purchased in 2008 as a getaway by a couple from Silicon Valley. The 1980’s modern home, was striking but dated. The commercial storefront doors and windows were faded, and with failing seals. The owner and architect met to consider updates, but the project never moved forward.

In October 2017, the Tubbs Fire came roaring through. Firefighters saved the main house, although the property did not emerge unscathed. The painted wood surfaces on the entry side of the house were left bubbled and singed. The guest house and porte-cochere were entirely consumed by the flames.

Years later, the owners were ready to begin their project. Their fondness for the period design precluded changes other than a complete exterior renovation to fortify the existing house from future fires. The loss of the guest house however, created the opportunity to execute an extraordinary vision for a new addition with multiple programs.

The property boasts 270-degree views, from Mount Tamalpais to Sonoma Mountain. Since the existing house does not take full advantage of the views, the owners conceived of an entertainment pavilion, twenty feet in the air, that would. The lower level will house a private guest suite and covered patio. An open-air staircase and dumbwaiter connect the levels.

The upper level is planned as a serene aerie. The great room and floating deck will be for entertaining. The deck will be partially covered by a perforated awning, to direct one’s gaze to the view and to protect glazing from the sun. An interstitial space will meet storage and mechanical needs while furthering the design aesthetically; its west facing exterior is to become an illuminated light box at the underside of the extended deck, serving as a backdrop to the voluminous covered space, defined by the entertainment level. The covered patio will connect to the view through a forest-like array of slender steel columns supported by basalt-finished site walls, an echo of the property’s existing site walls.

An agave and sculptural rock court will create defensible space between buildings. The project also incorporates solar and solar-fed batteries to supply electric heating and cooling and for generators, now common, to use during power shutoffs.

Both new and old will be built with fire-resistant sheathing and finished with a three-coat elastomeric stucco finish. Expression of the new and old cantilevering parapets will be finished with sintered stone and attached with a high strength mortar bed. The panels will be separated by tube steel uprights which add depth and shadow line, support for the flat bar top of the guardrail and even extend to support the awnings at the addition. Currently a snapshot in time, the project will continue to be refined with ever increasing attention to technical efficiencies.

While the concept of the Cavedale Entertainment Pavilion is simple – to capture views – the expression of the renovation and addition is inspired by the physical and natural history of the site in order to meet the forward-thinking vison of the Owners.