Year: 2024|Entry Categories: Residential Design - Built
Madrone Ridge
The project is a single-family residence that sits on Madrone Ridge overlooking a broad valley in Sonoma County. The primary goal of the home is to restore previously impacted portions of the site and enhance the environment within which the project is situated. Native plantings were used to connect the landscape surrounding the house to regional plant communities. The distributed footprint of the house also allows for contiguity within surrounding habitats.
The design utilizes passive and active strategies to give form to the home while providing a comfortable living environment. The house opens to allow cross ventilation and adjustability of apertures for thermal comfort. While shaded from the summer sun, the thermal mass of the floor is heated by the winter sun and radiates heat on cold winter nights. Overhangs were calibrated for shading from southern solar exposure, while downturned eave edges and perforated copper screen filter low-angle sunlight from the west. Rainwater captured from all roof surfaces is discharged to a collection trough that slows stormwater runoff, preventing erosion and recharging the aquifer.
Finally, the building construction prioritizes an approach to wildfire resilience that can be seen throughout the architecture at various scales, from the building’s geometry to its material assemblies and surrounding landscape. Overhangs use non-cavity, unvented eaves. The exterior building assembly layers non-combustible copper skin over stone wool fire stop (rated to 2150 F) integrated into rainscreen system. These innovative strategies allow the home to integrate into the land while providing refuge and shelter.
The team has been following up consistently since project completion to optimize performance and ensure that all project goals (both practical and poetic) were met.
Design Challenge
The owner’s brief began with a desire for a sheltered and elegant perch from which to take in the nights and days while surveying the valley and surrounding hillsides. The resulting experience of the land in all its seasonal cycles is immersive and cultivates the bond between the inhabitants of the home and the surrounding natural systems. Rather than a central, clustered scheme, the house is composed of smaller, more dexterous “fragments” which capture opportunities presented by the topographical and horticultural nuances of the site. These building elements host various components of the program while allowing the structures to adapt to the natural terrain. With an increased surface area that folds inward and outward on itself, the house creates a sequence of intimate exterior spaces that connect us with the land.
The roof geometry is composed of two sloping triangular planes that capture water in central channels then visibly discharge it down rain chains into basins filled with river rocks. During the summer, when the basins are dry, they stand as a reminder that the nourishing water will return in the wet season. This water narrative mimics in small scale the same water cycle of hot dry summers and seasonal rains found in the surrounding valley it sits in.Physical Context
The project was sited and positioned for optimal solar orientation through the early use of an energy model. The skin was carefully studied and tuned to maximize daylight. Passive strategies such as using the floor for thermal mass were used in conjunction with active systems to construct a highly efficient home. The house is designed for net zero energy usage and is not connected to a natural gas line. A small propane backup is offset by a large battery storage system for continued operational capacity during grid outages. Models of the perforation and overhang were used to enhance the interior daylight. Both solar orientation and shading were modeled and calibrated to achieve 98% optimization. The design creates direct connections to the outdoors by extending the facade beyond the glass to create comfortable and protected transitional outdoor spaces.
The ceiling is clad in Brisco cross-laminated boards made from reclaimed plywood off-cuts. The roof package was prefabricated off site; the unorthodox roof angles made this step crucial, so assembly was accurate and quick on site. Steel was minimized in the roof structure by maximizing glu-lam spans. All structural timber is FSC certified, the majority of which is recycled, engineered timber. Ceiling paneling throughout the home utilizes recycled timber waste product, cross laminated to form panels.
The home specifically prioritized wildfire resilience. The design team developed innovative strategies in collaboration with Cal Fire state representatives, generating an architecture that goes beyond the code minimum to express non-traditional ways of creating resilience. Strategies include site planning, landscape interface, ignition resistance, building geometry, and a resilient envelope assembly incorporating Rockwool heat-stopping system clad in non-combustible copper skin. The landscape design compliments this strategy with fire-resistant plantings and the house integrates itself into the land.
