Zinfandel
Architects Involved:
N/A
Additional Team:
CONTRACTOR:
GRASSI & ASSOCIATES
1098 JORDAN LANE
NAPA, CA 94559
T. 707.255.3232
E. [email protected]
INTERIOR DESIGN:
SHAWBACK DESIGN
1215 West Street
NAPA, CA 94559
Penny Shawback
T. 650.208.1741
[email protected]
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT:
SURFACE DESIGN INC.
12 DECATUR ST
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103
Roderick Wyllie
T. 415.621.5522
E. [email protected]
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER:
GFDS ENGINEERS
543 HOWARD ST.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105
David Kallmeyer
T. 415.512.1301
E. [email protected]
CIVIL ENGINEER:
REICHERS SPENCE & ASSOCIATES
1515 FOURTH STREET
NAPA, CA 94559
Bruce Fenton
T. 707.252.3301
E. [email protected]
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER:
RGH CONSULTANTS
1041 JEFFERSON STREET, STE 4
NAPA, CA 94559
Eric Chase
T. 707.252.8105
E. [email protected]
MECHANICAL ENGINEER:
MONTEREY ENERGY GROUP
26465 CARMEL RANCHO BLVD #8
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, CA 93923
David Knight
T. 831.372.8328
e. [email protected]
SPECIAL FABRICATION
SPEARHEAD
Nelson, BC, Canada
Ted Hall
T. 250.825.4300
E. [email protected]
ELECTRICAL
RESA Engineers
Petaluma, CA
T. 707.762.3310
E. [email protected]
LIGHTING
Vita Pehar Design
Sebastopol, CA
T. 707.829.6363
E. [email protected]
Project Description
The impetus for the project was an embrace of California’s ecosystem – one that includes destructive fires, sweeping winds, and renewing rainfall. This drive was coupled with the owners’ desire to extend the rich history of this particular parcel, one of the oldest cultivated Zinfandel vineyards on the valley floor. The core of the design program wove around the need to accommodate both intimate and large gatherings, infused with a playful balance of connection and of privacy.
Rather than build a fortress against the elements, we designed Zinfandel with an ethos of opening up to the environment, and participating in a deep and respectful dialogue with the land. The residence stretches out through three wings, its arms echoing those of a stand of three hundred-year-old oak trees that form a windbreak for the twenty-acre site. We organized the compound to produce a wind-sheltered courtyard within the larger embrace of the stand of oaks: a layer of building within a layer of landscape.
We drew reference from the organizational rhythm of an agrarian compound, which develops orthogonally over time. We created an organizational axis in the negative, stretching between a majestic valley oak and the Sugar Loaf mountains, a line of architecture off which the forms of the new farmhouse can slip and slide. The gathering spaces are centrally located, facing in, with the private spaces pulled out to the periphery, facing out into the long shelter of the valley. An old barn on the property, which was repurposed into a social room and destination, forms the anchor for the compound against the backdrop of the mountains to the west.
By honoring each separate piece of the home, every view was carefully designed around the experience of reaching above the shelter of vines, beyond the ancient trees, to capture the expansive valley and see them working together to create a symbiotic whole.