Hilltop House
Architects Involved:
Roche + Roche Landscape Architects, Sonoma, CA
Additional Team:
interior design: Christine Curry Design
landscape design: Roche + Roche Landscape Architecture
lighting design: Anna Kondolf Lighting Design
general contractor: Jon Curry, Landers, Curry Inc.
Project Description
Project Narrative:
Site Program:
On this 19 acre parcel of steeply sloping terrain in the hills above Sonoma, the challenge was siting the home and accessory buildings to take full advantage of sweeping Southern facing views of existing vineyards, and San Pablo Bay and the San Francisco skyline in the distance, while observing the scenic resource requirements of screening the home from the road and from the valley floor below. The design solution responds to the existing site topography by organizing the program requirements into three buildings housing a main house at the top, car barn in the middle, and guest house with game room, below. Exterior space between the buildings is reshaped into terraces. At the top inside the view corridor, is the swimming pool and dining terrace, in the middle, an auto court served by a circular drive, and below a garden, each providing the bridge for elevation change across the building site. All three buildings were carefully sited in the landscape to maximize views and create exterior space usable throughout the year.
Building Program:
Included in the building program is a three bedroom main house, a separate three car garage, referred to as the “Car Barn,” with an exercise room and a stand-alone guest house, providing additional lodging for extended family and friends. In order to achieve the single level house the owners’ desired, an auto court occupies the “middle” terrace allowing parking in a separate barn building defining the opposite side of the terrace. The ground story walls of the house are clad in stone, anchoring the structure, providing a monumental backdrop for landscape and fountain elements incorporated into the auto court area.
Once inside the auto court, guests enter a two-story glass entry vestibule bringing them into the main level. A separate stair and elevator provide the owners direct access to the kitchen area from the garage. Throughout the house, large pocketed sliding doors allow an easy flow between inside and out and cross views of the surrounding hills. Located atop a knoll facing the view, and accessed by additional landscape steps are a bocce ball court, and fire-pit with panoramic views of the surroundings completing the outdoor experience.
The house’s three volumes organize entertaining + dining, a master bedroom suite and guest bedrooms plus work areas into separate wings allowing management of heating and cooling. All rooms of the house face the view and open onto a large landscaped patio with swimming pool, and space for outdoor dining. The main volumes of the house utilize single pitch roofs with generous overhangs and expansive glass openings with ample sun protection during the year. Connecting them to one another are secondary circulation spaces with lower flat roofs promoting a varying sense of scale and importance moving throughout the house. Exterior building materials including cedar siding, metal-clad windows, seamed metal roof and stone walls were selected for their modern simplicity and to anchor the house to its natural surroundings.